Mangaluru: Acting on a government directive, Mangaluru City Corporation has stopped using plastic water bottles. In addition to doing away with the menace of plastic bottles, the civic body is expected to save between Rs. 2 lakh and Rs. 2.50 lakh annually from this move. The civic body has replaced plastic bottles with steel tumblers, as one-time investment.

According to Madhu S. Manohar, Environment Engineer of the corporation, the corporation has purchased 200 steel glasses, 50 steel jugs, five steel trays and two steel containers. Each container has a capacity to store 50 litres of water. It cost the civic body about Rs. 35,000.

The council and the committees held a minimum 60 meetings annually. Purchase of plastic water bottles cost the corporation between Rs. 2 lakh and Rs. 2.50 lakh. Now, water could be collected from water filters installed in the corporation, stored in the steel containers and supplied during all meetings.

The share of plastic bottles alone constituted 2 %. This is after preliminary screening or sorting out by workers of the company in charge of collection and transportation of solid waste from the city.