Despite the ban on single-use plastic, packets and non-woven plastic bags have silently crawled into the roadside eateries in the city.
Most of the eateries pack solid food items like idli, dosa, vada and fritters on a plantain leaf covered with old newspapers or use aluminium foils. However, for packing items like chutney, sambar, tea, and coffee, there is rampant use of plastic.
A shopkeeper on Melakkal Main Road said that plastic covers were available for a meagre ₹150 per kg, compared to silver foil packets which cost ₹250 per kg. Price variation forced them to switch to the cheaper medium. “We discreetly purchase plastic pouches from neighbourhood shops, who get it from traders from the city in and around the temple,” said the owner of a roadside eatery.
The other deflection from the plastic ban comes with the use of non-woven plastic bags by some eateries, another banned item. “We insist that customers carry their own bags. However, we are forced to provide non-woven bags as an alternative as they tend to leave otherwise,” said K. Saravanan, an eatery owner.
Non-woven bags are sold at ₹2 each while the cloth bags cost ₹8 a piece. “Big restaurants usually include packing charges in the bill. It does not affect their business. But small eateries like ours will lose customers, if we begin to include additional packing charges,” said Subramanian, manager of an eatery on North Veli Street. The disgruntled shopkeepers said that business had shrunk for many of them after the plastic ban.
“We have lost around 40% of our revenue after the ban. Though we welcome the order, how will we survive without a viable alternative,” asked Samsudeen, cashier of a roadside stall on Panagal Road.
K.L. Kumar, president of Madurai District Hotel Owners’ Association, said that Madurai Corporation had rejected non-plastic alternatives suggested by the association. “The Corporation has rejected tapioca and corn starch bags as alternatives suggested by us,” he claimed.
City Health Officer (in-charge) M. Saroja said that Corporation intensified efforts to seize banned plastic products. “It has told Madurai District Hotel Owners’ Association to get clearance from Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board if they have to use corn and tapioca starch bags,” she said. She stressed the need for public to take their own carry bags and contribute to the process of reducing plastic usage.
