VISAKHAPATNAM: The Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation will distribute 12 lakh cloth bags in a bid to drive the public towards plastic alternatives, said district collector Dr A Mallikarjuna. The collector and GVMC commissioner G Lakshmisha participated in a beach clean-up drive at Bheemili on Sunday. A huge number of students, public, NGOs, and people’s representatives participated in the drive.

Mallikarjuna said the district administration is conducting beach clean-up on the first Sunday of every month. “Today’s drive collected about six tonnes of plastic, which will be transferred to waste disposal centres. Our ultimate objective is to see a 100% single-use plastic ban,” said the collector.

Lakshmisha said that July 3 is celebrated as the International Plastic Bag Free Day. “We got used to carrying mobile phones weighing about 200 grams. But unfortunately, we are not carrying a cloth bag that weighs only 20 grams. If everyone takes a cloth bag to shops and for other purchases, the GVMC can soon reach its target of making Vizag a plastic-free city,” said Lakshmisha.

Joint collector KS Viswanathan, Bheemili zonal commissioner S Venkata Ramana and others were present.