As part of a city Corporation initiative to check the use of plastic carry bags and to improve the monitoring mechanism, the first lot of hologram stickers to be pasted on carry bags will be distributed to dealers on Monday.
The hologram stickers have been produced by the Centre for Development of Imaging Technology (C-DIT) for the city Corporation. According to Corporation officials, this is the first of its kind initiative in the State. Along with the project, there would be an increase in the cost of the carry bags, which would now cost anywhere above Rs.8, said Health Officer, D. Sreekumar.
“One of the main reasons why a lot of people have been hesitant to switch to cloth bags is that they are under the impression that cloth bags costs more. The higher price of plastic carry bags should, however, prompt many to either reuse the bags or resort to the alternatives,” he said, adding that the scheme would make a dent in the overwhelming use of plastic carry bags.
Soon, all plastic bags would bear an emblem in gold and silver colour. The Health Department would continue with their fortnightly monitoring exercises even after the enforcement of the hologram rule to ensure that retail and wholesale dealers, including textile shops, complied with this effort to curb the use of plastic.
The Corporation had associated with the C-DIT to produce the holograms, which the dealers could obtain from the Corporation office. Health standing committee chairperson S. Pushpalatha said each hologram emblem had a serial number. “If we find that marks have been imprinted upon plastic carry bags of less than 40 micron thickness, it will be easier to trace the erring shop owners.” She also added that after a brief notification period, strict enforcement of this rule would be followed this month.
Dr. Sreekumar said the project was being implemented at a cost of Rs.27 crore. He said around one crore hologram stickers had been printed for single retail stores and one lakh for wholesale dealers.
He said a month ago the Corporation officials had held meetings with shop owners from various sectors and their response was positive.
