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Retain and reuse recyclable plastic bags, get discounts

Visakhapatnam: The next time if you purchase a product in Visakhapatnam, ensure that you preserve the

plastic

wrapper.

After Greater Visakha Municipal Corporation (GVMC) banned single-use plastic, almost all shops are using recycled plastic bags. Manufactures are buying them back to

recycle

them into garbage bags.

“We request customers to preserve the plastic packets and we are going to buy them and recycle them as garbage bags. However, the packets should be in good condition and clean,” A Suresh Babu, managing director of Sree Ployfilms Pvt Limited told TOI.

Manufactures said, for the first time a plastic bag/wrapper/or packet is good for one-time use. But once they start recycling them their condition begins to deteriorate and then they can be used only as garbage bags or bags for industrial uses.

“For every 100 kgs of plastic, which is recycled, we lose around 10 kgs of the weight every time they are recycled. So on an average we can recycle a packet 10 times,” added Babu.

Manufacturers are paying Rs 20 to Rs 25 per kg to buy recycled packets. They are printing their contact numbers so that customers can directly contact them when they want to sell the packets.

“We are, however, trying to woo shopkeepers so that customers can sell the packets to them and we could take them from them in lieu of a small commission. In fact, a few stores in the city have already started to buy packets from customers,” said N Suresh Kumar, owner of another plastic manufacturing unit.

Meanwhile, several reputed companies, selling food products, like Visakha Dairy, have already started making customers aware of the need to recycle plastic bags or wrappers or packets. These companies are asking customers to return the plastic packets in lieu of some discounts.

“A regular customer buys at least one packet of milk from us every day. We are asking our customers to return those 30 packets to us every day. At the end of the month we are offering them a discount on their monthly bills,” said YS Naidu, a wholesaler of dairy products.

About the Author

Arpit Basu

With more than one-and-a-half decade's experience in print and di... Read More

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