Novel initiative to help curb use of single-use plastic

Hyderabad: In a bid to curb use of single use plastic, Nidarshana Saikia Das launched city's first cutlery bank named Bartan Company that lends steel utensils and biodegradable cutlery for functions and events.

A marketing professional, Das quit her job in August 2018 and took up a permaculture course with Aranya Agricultural Alternatives (AAA) in Zaheerabad. "I wanted to do something different for society. Also, as there are a handful of cutlery banks across India that said 'no' to plastic disposables. She opened a community utensils bank to curb plastic waste on February 2019 from her residence at Nallagandla.

Before lending utensils for a particular event, they are sanitised by using bio-enzymes for hygiene purposes by the workers. Whatever profit earned by this initiative is distributed among the cleaning staff. In her green journey, Sahithi Snigdha from Bintix and Chaitanya Harkara, an IT professional, joined the organisation, pitched in with financial help.

"At present, we supply cutlery at Gachibowli and Nallagandla and are planning to supply in more areas in the city. This utensil bank was stated to reduce non biodegradable materials and to adopt biodegradable materials," said Nidarshana. TBC rents plates at Rs 6 each, glasses and blows at Rs 4, spoons at Rs 3.