VISAKHAPATNAM: The Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation has declared several tourist places in and around RK beach road here as plastic-free zones. These include coconut grove area, Park for Children with All Abilities, VMRDA Park, Thotlakonda, Kailasagiri, VMRDA Central Park, zoo park, and Tenneti Park.
The GVMC will implement a full-fledged ban on single-use plastics below 75 microns thickness from June 5, marking the World Environment Day. But all plastic items, irrespective of thickness, will be banned in these identified plastic-free zones. The visitors and tourists have to discard the plastic items in a responsible manner in these areas.
A communication system to alert the public about the plastic-free zone status will be developed in these zones. A separate officer will be deployed at these tourist spots. GVMC commissioner Dr G Lakshmisha said the key objective of plastic-free zone initiative is to minimise the plastic use to the maximum extent possible in these areas frequented by locals as well as tourists from outside city. “To drive the public towards plastic alternatives, the GVMC is procuring six lakh cloth bags. Every BPL family will get two cloth bags,” said Dr Lakshmisha.
