Though the entry and exit lanes at the flower market in Mattuthavani are packed with colourful sampangi, button roses and kanakambaram, the fringes of the pathway are littered with used paper cups and aluminium foils.
Just behind the market, heap of unsegregated plastic and rotting flowers greet passers-by with a strong whiff of stench.
When asked about this, a flower stall owner says that during a recent meeting held with the Agricultural Marketing Committee Secretary V. Mercy Jayarani, they were asked to collect waste generated on a daily basis by segregating it into degradable and non-degradable items and hand it over to sanitary workers.
“We were also warned that stringent action would be taken by the Corporation and fine imposed if improper disposal of waste continues,” the stall owner says.
“This order is taken seriously by all the 104 stall owners, but I doubt if temporary vendors will do so,” she adds.
Ms Jayarani said that this plan to segregate waste came after discussions with the Madurai Corporation to work out better streamlining of garbage clearance periodically from the market.
She adds that after many years, from this January the maintenance fee was raised to ₹625 per month from ₹225.
Speaking of the usage of plastic bags, M Nagarani who has been stringing flowers since she was eight years old says that flowers will stay fresh only if it is wrapped in the banned single-use plastic covers, especially garlands.
The flower stringer says cloth bags simply do not work as it absorbs the water content of the flower leading to wilting and reducing the shelf life.
“How do we exclude the use of plastic bags especially while selling flowers? We are yet to find a sustainable alternate practical solution,” chimed in fellow flower stringers.
