Ban on single-use plastic: More sustainable restaurants are on the menu in Bengaluru

Changes in cooking techniques, edible plastic, sustainability workshops and better packaging are some of the highlights in Bengaluru eateries as ban on single-use plastic comes into play

Once as ubiquitous a find as any, single-use plastic (SUP) is now being cracked down upon, under the nationwide ban on items such as plastic sticks on balloons, cutlery, straws, wrapping film on sweet boxes, invitation cards etc. from July 1.

The move is bound to impact eateries too, many of which still rely on plastic bowls, cutlery or straws.

Jagdish B., manager at the Millers Road branch of Kanti Sweets, says he has been receiving communication from the higher management for the past month about alternative packaging that will be incorporated soon. Since plastic films on sweet boxes is banned too, the store will soon shift to cardboard boxes or painted boxes sans any film.

“We have already started using paper bags to pack namkeen takeaways and within a week, we will use up our existing stock of plastic containers and move to boxes that are 100 microns in thickness,” he says. 

At Farmlore, a farm-to-plate fine dining experience in Sathnur village, the team relies on areca leaf containers. Now, with news of the ban, the kitchen staff is getting creative with spreading the message.

Conceptualised post the ban, their new dishes are a metaphor for how humans corrupt the ocean with plastic and oil. On the plate is a Kochi snapper fish, and splatters featuring coconut, spirulina blue algae (to resemble the ocean), and a charcoal oil slick. Resting atop the fish is edible plastic.

Another dish, served at the end encases mouth freshener within a thin pouch that looks eerily similar to plastic, but is actually made from potato starch. “It’s an homage to kindle the thought that plastic can exist long after we leave the world and are a hazard to our environment,” says chef Johnson Ebenezer, who co-founded Farmlore with Kaushik Raju.