Plastic and garbage-free Kerala

My recent visit to Kochi the Queen of the Arabian Sea had an environmental surprise. We had gone to a well known supermarket to buy some local sweets. Once the required quantity of sweets was selected the sales person packed the same in a normal brown paper bag. When we asked her , why she was not packing them in a plastic cover, pat came the reply, “No more plastic covers only paper” .
My understanding was that there is a ban on plastic materials below 30 microns in thickness. However the Supermarket supervisor also vehemently supported the salesperson. I was happy wow another first for Kerala; after being the 100% literate state Kerala is going to be the first state to ensure that plastic is slowly replaced by natural bio-degradable materials.
However a visit to the sea front in cochin shattered my dream.

I also read in a news paper the other day that along with the ban on plastics, the waste disposal drive will be strengthened at the ward-level across the state. Public places, hospitals, trading centres, premises of offices and educational institutions and water bodies will be cleaned from effluents as part of the drive.