Mukkam: The ban on single-use plastic in Kerala is spurring revival of old eco-friendly practices. Shopkeepers are adjusting to the ban, which came into effect on New Year's, with the use of bio-alternatives.
Abdul Sattar, a meat seller at Kakkad near Mukkom in Kozhikode district, has replaced the plastic bags with teak leaves and pouches made of palm-leaf sheath. He took to these alternatives as he recalled buying meat and fish in leaf sheaths and teak leaves in his childhod.
Customers, who buy more than 1 kg of meat, would be eligible for leaf-sheath pouches which he crafts himself after drying the sheath. Others can buy their meat packed in teak leaves.
Customers buying in bulk can have the meat in this eco-friendly pouch, delivered direct to their homes. They have to return these pouches to Sattar' stall.
Sattar is also planning to give special incentives to those customers who bring their own containers or leaf-sheath pouches while buying meat from his stall.
He has been in the meat-selling business for over 10 years now. Earlier he had worked in a readymade shop in Jordan.
Earlier it was reported that meat sellers at the Kaduthuruthy market in Kottayam district had started packing meat in leaves of teak and other plants.