BHUBANESWAR: The Maa Kochilei haat/market at Rasulgarh will soon become the city’s first market free of single-use plastic. Traders of the market on Saturday took a pledge in this regard and decided not to use single-use polythene for businesses after their meeting with Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) mayor Sulochana Das and other officials.
Market association president Rajkumar Routray and secretary Pradip Jena assured BMC to make the area free of single use plastic and motivate others in this regard. At least 50 members of the association present in the meeting will take part in the campaign. The BMC on the occasion also distributed cotton bags carrying the message of preventing single-use plastic items among vendors and customers at the haat.
“We urged vendors and customers to stop using banned plastic items for a better tomorrow and increase liveability. Our target is to discourage use of banned items like plastic carry bags, ear buds, plastic flags, thermocol for decorations, plastic spoons, forks, straws, knives, invitation cards, cigarette packets and banners, candy/ ice cream sticks, plastic plates, cups, glasses and packaging films,” the mayor said.
BMC additional commissioner Suvendu Kumar Sahoo said as a strategic design the market has been chosen for community driven activities.“It is the members of the market unit who will take lead in the campaign. Initially it may affect vendor costumer relation but later will set an example in achieving the objective,” Sahoo said.