Vijayawada Municipal Corporation to tap prisoner workforce to create sustainable bags

By

Isabelle Crossley

Published
Sep 9, 2019

Vijayawada Municipal Corporation has banned single use plastics and plans to use prisoners at the district’s jails to manufacture cloth and jute bags for shoppers to use instead of plastic ones. 

After Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh imposed a single-use plastic ban, the VMC has been looking for a way to create more cloth and jute bags in the area to meet the new demand, TNN reported. The VMC has decided to use the area’s prison workforce to create sustainable carry bags and aims to give one to each family in the area. The drive aims to stop the harmful effects that single-use plastic on the environment by reducing consumption. 

Retailers asked the VMC to make cloth and jute bags readily available for an affordable price. The VMC started to train women’s self-help groups to manufacture cloth and paper bags through its Urban Community Development sector. Needing a greater quantity, the VMC looked to the area's prisons.

“We need huge quantities of cloth bags at an affordable price,” the VMC’s additional commissioner K Sakuntala told TNN.

“We have decided to utilise the services of prisoners along with the SHGs to meet the demand. Officials of district prisons had actually come forward with these proposals. Our teams will soon start training camp for the prisoners.”