VIJAYAWADA: The Kanaka Durga temple in the city will soon be adopting new eco-friendly packaging practices for distribution of its famous laddu prasadam to devotees. Sri Durga Malleswara Swamy Varla Devasthanams (SDMSD), the trust that manages the temple, will replace polythene covers with paper boxes, similar to the ones used in bakeries, for packaging of the prasadam.
The decision to implement the move in a phased-manner from the first week of December, was taken in a recent meeting by the temple officials. “After mulling various options, such as biodegradable plastic covers and cloth/jute bags, estate and health officials finally voted in favour of paper boxes since they are environment-friendly,” said temple executive officer (EO) MV Suresh Babu.
Green boxes for temple laddu
The authorities, in October, imposed a ban on the usage of single-use plastics on the temple premises and had also warned traders of stringent action if they were caught selling such items. Suresh Babu added paper boxes would not affect the taste and quality of the laddu prasadam.
“At present, paper covers are only used for Sri Chakra Laddu. Now, even the normal laddu prasadam will be packaged in such covers,” he said, adding biodegradable bags will be used for the wrapping of the pulihora prasadam.
Meanwhile, the move to distribute laddu prasadam to devotees in paper boxes will force the authorities to spend more. While one plastic cover costs around 10 paisa, a paper cover will cost us over 30 paisa.