BENGALURU: Most marriage halls in the city are adhering to the plastic ban imposed by Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), three months ago. However, they have not been able to follow the advisory issued on non-usage of plantain leaves.
Despite the BBMP’s advisory, marriage halls have continued to serve food on them, as has been the traditional custom. According to Somashekar, manager at Sidhartha Kalyana Mantapa at HSR Layout, it is not practical to stop the use of plantain leaves at weddings. “How can we change our tradition? We do not want to use it daily, but only for occasions because we understand that Bengaluru has a garbage issue.”
Agreeing on the same, Shiv Shankar, manager at Sri Ranganathaswamy Kalyana Mantapa, Yashwanthpur, also said that even though plastic had been strictly banned at the venue, plantain leaves are still being used in almost in all weddings.
BBMP Commissioner Manjunath Prasad said that while only an advisory on non-usage of plantain leaves has been issued, the BBMP might enforce it in the future. “It was an advisory issued in the interest of the city to minimise waste generation, and was not meant to be enforced,” he said.Several choultries that CE spoke to, said that, due respect has been given to BBMP’s advisory.
However, in the absence of the banned plastic, the easily biodegradable banana leaves are ideal to use and easy to discard. In addition, those who book choultries prefer plantain leaves, as these are cleaner than metal, ceramic or glass plates. The latter options often carry food stains from previous usage, if they are not properly washed. Most are of the opinion that plantain leaves offer a use-and-throw way out of this problem.