BENGALURU: In order to reduce the amount of plastic waste generated by the city, the Bengaluru Chapter of the National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI) will promote the use of eco-friendly products in city’s restaurants.

NRAI is creating awareness among restaurants to use paper bags, reed or bamboo straws, bagasse containers and glass bottles. “Bengaluru is the fourth-largest generator of plastic in the country. Many restaurants in the city can bring about change. We are asking restaurants to start using bagasse, the leftover fibre after the extraction of the juice from sugarcane, which is eco-friendly,” said Prakash Pandey, NRAI member and director of Byg Brewski Brewing Company.

Manuchandra, the head of the Bengaluru chapter, pointed out that marine life was the worst affected due to plastic and very soon there will be a shortage of seafood in the city.

More than 3,000 restaurateurs joined hands to clean up Koramangla and Indiranagar on Sunday. The team collected 754 bags of plastic waste and 874 bags of other waste. Even elected representatives like MLAs N A Harris and Ramlinga Reddy were a part of the exercise.

The NRAI has also made posters to create awareness to use eco-friendly products and they gave these posters to restaurants. “We are spreading in the message by making posters. At TOIT restaurant, we have started using smaller glasses as many people only drink half a glass of water and they waste the rest,” said Mukesh Tolani, director of TOIT.