The fact that food eaten off newspaper packaging may be poisonous is known. But street vendors continue to use paper because they have little choice. Forcing them to switch to plastic is not a better option. Plastic is not only a greater health hazard but also causes problems in its disposal and is a peril to bovines foraging for food.
The solution is bringing back into practice the use of leaves of plants such as Butea monosperma and siali for serving or packaging food; newspaper sheets may be used only as outer packaging. Such leaves were being used before polyethylene (PE) packaging took over.
In my childhood, items such as asafoetida and curd were sold, wrapped in stitched Butea monosperma leaves. I also remember how in some restaurants, used thali leaves (banana or Butea monosperma) after meals would be dropped from a small opening in the wall, which slid to the outside where a cow would invariably be present to chomp on it.
Earlier this year, a German company, Leaf Democracy, struck a deal with 3,500 women from 127 tribal hamlets in Kandhamal, Sambalpur, Angul and Deogarh of Odisha under which they would supply 100,000 stitched siali leaf plates a month for the hotel industry abroad. But in our country we are still debating food packaging options!
Some entrepreneurs are addressing the problem: they are making food packaging and serving materials from areca nut leaves and bagasse. These are biodegradable and can be used as compost. How nice it would be if these leaves could be used by food vendors too! This would contribute to the success of Swachh Bharat and ultimately to that of a circular economy, the significance of building which will become more important in the future; it also holds the key to sustainable development.
Otherwise, our attitude towards the environment would remain similar to what Mark Twain had once said with respect to weather: “Everybody talks about the weather but nobody does anything about it.”
C V Krishna Manoj, Hyderabad
Letters can be mailed, faxed or e-mailed to:
The Editor, Business Standard
Nehru House, 4 Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg
New Delhi 110 002
Fax: (011) 23720201 • E-mail: letters@bsmail.in
All letters must have a postal address and telephone number
