Malls in Chennai to have Manjappai vending machines: Ma Su

CHENNAI: While inaugurating a Manjappai (yellow bag) kiosk in Besant Nagar beach on Monday, Tamil Nadu Health Minister Ma Subramanian said that Manjappai vending machines will be set up in shopping malls in the city.

"The intention of setting up the Manjappai vending machine on the beach is to convert the beaches into plastic-free zones. As concrete structures should not be created on the beach, a container has been converted into a kiosk," Subramanian said.

The kiosk has been set up by the State Environment and Climate Change Department.

Apart from the bag vending machine, a plastic crushing machine has also been installed inside the kiosk.

"Apart from plastic items collected on the beach, the public can also put plastic bottles into the crusher. Awareness e-vehicles are launched to create awareness against plastic and the need for using cloth bags. The vehicles will broadcast messages at public places including markets," he added.

Meanwhile, Department Secretary Supriya Sahu said in a social media post that the kiosk is on green energy through a solar panel on its roof.

"It will act as a center to watch plastic littering on the beach and create awareness among people. It will be manned by the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) with volunteers. This truly gives a big boost to our efforts to stop littering on our beaches," she added.

Speaking at the event, Siva V Meyyanathan, Minister of Environment and Climate Change said that other states in the country also emulated the Meendum Manjappai project.

"Awareness against plastic is being carried out in schools and colleges," he added.

As the Diwali festival is only a few days away, Meyyanathan clarified that awareness of green crackers will be created across the state to reduce pollution.

"Barium Salt in crackers will affect lungs and have a high decibel of more than 200. This level should be brought down to 100 decibels by using green crackers," he said.