Indore (Madhya Pradesh): The Indore Municipal Corporation (IMC) has started a unique initiative to make the city plastic-free.
The civic body has installed ATM-like machines for cloth bags at five main market locations in the city in which one can deposit a Rs 10 coin or a Rs 10 note to get a bag.
IMC Commissioner Pratibha Pal said, "Since single-use plastic is banned in the city, cloth bag machines have been installed. To make the city plastic-free, we have installed five such machines in the city's markets to stop people from using plastic bags." "If the experiment is successful, more such machines will be installed in the city. Indore is the first city in Madhya Pradesh where such a machine has been installed," Pal added.
Gunjan Sharma, president of 56 Shop Association, the city's famous food street, said, "This experiment is very useful. We have made the '56 Shops' plastic-free. People coming from elsewhere were not aware of such machines and are finding them extremely useful. Such machines should also be installed at vegetable markets."
Sanjay Karoiya, who came to buy a cloth bag from one of the installed machines, said more such innovative devices should be installed to make the city more environment-friendly and plastic-free.
