The Coimbatore Corporation on Friday facilitated a meeting of entrepreneurs and a manufacturer of eco-friendly paper cups. According to sources, the idea was to encourage entrepreneurs to take up the project so as to promote use of eco-friendly paper cups in the city.
The manufacturer, Eco Coatings Pvt. Ltd. from Chennai, would supply the eco-friendly poly-coated paper, which the entrepreneurs could use to mould cups or other containers. The use of the paper would be a replacement for plastic-coated cups or sweet boxes, which posed challenges while recycling.
They also fetched lower price to rag pickers who sold those to paper manufacturing companies as they would have to remove the plastic coating before re-pulping the paper, said R. Raveendran, Honorary Secretary, Residents Awareness Association of Coimbatore, which is coordinating the event.
Eco Coatings Pvt. Ltd.’s Managing Director C.G. Subba Rao said the company was in talks with the Dindigul district administration for introducing the cups in Kodaikanal. The Udhagamandalam district administration had also evinced interest.
The cost of the eco-friendly cups was marginally higher than those cups that were available in the market, but the price would not make a difference if manufactured in higher volumes.
Eco-friendly bags
Mr. Raveendran said the move to go in for promoting the eco-friendly cups followed the Corporation’s efforts to promote eco-friendly bags.
The Corporation had already set up a kiosk at its headquarters in Town Hall and it would open the outlet very soon.
Corporation Commissioner K. Vijayakarthikeyan said around 3,000 bags were ready for sale to members of the public. The civic body was also in talks with restaurants and other commercial establishments for promoting the bag.
