The ban on plastic had a positive impact on the Haritha Kerala Mission’s pavilion at the annual agriculture fair organised by Gandhiji Study Centre which concluded at Thodupuzha on Sunday.
Over 20,000 cloth bags were sold at the pavilion, which focused on waste management and alternatives to plastic carrybags in the wake of the ban imposed by the State government on plastic use.
Haritha Kerala Mission district co-cordinator G.S.Madu on Sunday said that Kudumbashree units and private entrepreneurs had made available cloth bags at a price between ₹30 to ₹120. He said that the zipper bags which could be folded as purse and made available by the St Teresa’s College, Ernakulam had the highest buyers and all the bags were sold.
There were nine producers of cloth bags and all had good business.
The complete cloth sanitary napkins made available by Navjoythi, Rajamudy, had also good takers.
Haritha Kerala Mission had started a sustainable campaign for environment protection and waste management through the Kudumbasrhee Mission and training was given to women entrepreneurs in cloth bag making.
In Munnar training was given to Kudumbashree units in making the cloth and paper bags under the sustainable livelihood programme of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
As many as 150 composting units to be used for household and institution needs were also sold at the pavilion..
Only the high quality items as prescribed by the Haritha Kerala Mission and Suchwita Mission were exhibited at the stall.
A number of orders for installing the composting units and wholesale requirement from business outlets were also received, Mr Madhu said.
A positive sign from the public was visible to slowly shifting to the alternative products for plastic, he said.
Bamboo products
All the products of .bamboo made available by the Kalarickal tribal settlement in Uppukunnur were sold, he said
