Mangaluru: In order to support Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Swacchata Hi Seva’, a cleanliness initiative calling the people to ‘Say No To Plastic’, Dakshina Kannada Co-Operative Milk Producers’ Union Ltd is planning to collect empty milk packets from its customers through its dealers. This is being done to ensure that no milk packets are thrown on the streets.

This also applies to flavoured milk products which are sold in PET bottles. The Union will be the first of the 14 milk unions under the Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF) to come out with such an initiative in response to PM Modi’s ‘Swacchata Hi Seva’ initiative.

Union president Raviraj Hegde told reporters here on Friday, September 27, that the Union has already convened a meeting with its 1650 dealers from both the Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts, and directed them to collect the milk packets from customers. The federation will send the plastic packets for recycling. This initiative will start from October 2, on Gandhi Jayanti.

The Union has appointed Mangaluru-based Nature-Friendly Recycle Industries as the nodal agency for the recycling of these plastic packets and PET bottles. The proceeds from the sale of the plastic packets and PET bottles will be shared among the dealers and vehicle operators.

Meanwhile, Hegde informed that for now, the customers who give the milk packets will not get any money in return. “Now we are concentrating only on collecting the milk packets from our customers. They will get money in exchange for the milk packets once the federation fixes a price for this,” he clarified.

Union vice president S Prakashchandra Shetty, Managing Director Dr G V Hegde, Directors like Kaup Divakar Shetty , Jagadish Karanth and others were present.