If you find customers in the tourist town of Thekkady carrying their own paper or cotton bags while going shopping; do not be surprised.
The plastic ban implemented in the panchayat last April is showing results, thanks to the active participation of merchant associations, resorts' managements and the police, who routinely raid shops using plastic bags and fine them. Public are also keen to inform the panchayat authorities or the police if they find shopkeepers packing items in plastic carry bags.
The campaign, which began slowly, had the active participation of the police. The 4-km stretch from Kumily town to Thekkady was cleared of plastic by the Student Police Cadets led by Circle Inspector of Police Anil Sreenivas on Gandhi Jayanti day. It gained so much publicity that even foreign tourists participated by collecting plastic bottles and carrier bags dumped on the roadside.
The panchayat authorities then started a public campaign to ban the use of plastic in the panchayat area. “Our plan was to implement the project through school students; but it was not a complete success as students couldn't be supplied with enough alternative cotton bags and some of them were reluctant to accept the proposal,” says grama panchayat vice-president Kunjumol Chacko. However, it helped gain publicity as students carried the message to their parents and they participated in meetings organised to announce a plastic-free panchayat, with the focus on Kumily town.
It was a Herculean task for the panchayat to supply cotton and paper bags in the town and Kudumbasree units now make the cotton and paper bags to be supplied to the shops. The shop owners also purchase more expensive cotton or paper bags from other agencies. “Once you go to a shop with a cotton bag, others will also be prompted to imitate you,” says Ms. Chacko. “Moreover, it is economical as you are charged directly or indirectly for the plastic bags when you buy something,” she says.
The ban on plastic was implemented with the support of the Periyar Tiger Reserve (PTR), which implemented it inside the forest area as part of the Responsible Tourism Project. “Now the ‘Clean Kumily and Green Kumily,' a society of people formed by the grama panchayat, is actively implementing the ban.
The shops are being supplied with the ‘Thumpi' paper bags supplied by Kudumbasree units.
“The project will become a complete success when the message — that one cannot carry plastic bags while in Thekkaday — spreads among tourists,” says Ms. Chacko.
Ventish Joy, a consultant for the Responsible Tourism Project, said that the project gained success as the panchayat took measures proactively. The Responsible Tourism Project is also being implemented in Sulthan Bathery in Wayand, Kumarakom in Kottayam and Kovalam in Thiruvananthapuram.
Published - July 16, 2011 07:24 pm IST
