Meghalaya: Switching off plastic one bag at a time

Shillong: Plastic is a pain not just here in Shillong but across the world. Meghalaya, MLA Charles Pyngrope wants to change this by changing one habit at a time. His first mission to make the people of his constituency, Nongthymmai, use cloth bags instead of the single-use plastic ones.

“I decided to get these simple bags made. I realised that to make a sizeable bag for marketing one metre gives you two bags. So I told these people who I had given these sewing machines to them last year from the Special Urban Work Programme (SUWP) scheme to stitch these bags and I had given them 30 Rs per bag. So if they stitch 100 bags they get 3000 Rs which is a lot of help for them during this crisis,” said Pyngrope.

Also Read: On Environment Day, spare moment for these felled trees of Gangtok

This also helps people make extra money and also provided employment.

“What can be seen here is that apart from fighting plastic menace we are also providing job opportunity and income generation for the people living in and around the city. Now, if all the people purchase this bag and carry it along with them, it will help in eradicating plastic,” added Pyngrope

Pyngrope who also represents the Nongthymmai Constituency now aims to make at least 15,000 bags for his constituency and sell them through churches and other organisations. He has appealed to all 60 MLAs replicate this idea to have a greater impact.

Also Read: OIL ‘blowout’: Inquiry team formed, foreign experts to reach spot