To make sure that cloth bags are easily available to the masses, the government in Tamil Nadu is set to install cloth bag dispensing machines at public places.

On Saturday, Supriya Sahu, an Indian Administrative Service officer, shared a demonstration video of the machine online. In the video, Sahu is seen inserting a RS 10 coin in the machine, which then dispenses a medium-sized cloth bag.

The cloth bag in the video looks like a manjapai (yellow bag), a traditional multipurpose bag that is widely used across Tamil Nadu by shoppers.

While sharing the video, Sahu wrote, “Manjapai Vending Machine is finally here. It is a challenge to make cloth bags available in public places at an affordable cost. We are working to set up these machines at market places & bus stops etc Prototype is ready and details will come soon #meendummanjapai #manjapai”.

Manjapai Vending Machine is finally here. It is a challenge to make cloth bags available in public places at an affordable cost. We are working to set up these machines at market places & bus stops etc Prototype is ready and details will come soon #meendummanjapai #manjapai pic.twitter.com/UByJyZ55AK

— Supriya Sahu IAS (@supriyasahuias) May 21, 2022

So far the video has been viewed over 45,000 times. Commenting on the video, a Twitter user wrote, “Splendid. My suggestion is to make it accept electronic payments as well apart from just coins. Not everyone would be carrying coins around. The transaction cost might be there but then the machine would be more useful to everyone that way.”

Just an idea, can this be connected to plastic bottle waste collection and segregation! Would help a lot connecting through value.

— Nandakumar (@k_n_k79_aarthi) May 21, 2022

Nice, great innovation. But first priority should always be to carry our own shopping bag even during vacation, business travel. Keep few in office bag, 2W, 4W , suitcases when we go on vacation. Reuse , reduce should be our first mantra. These machines to be used in emergency.

— Sidharth Naik (@sidharth_naik) May 21, 2022

Make sure, the machine functions. Most of the govt initiatives are facing problems at the execution level.

Thanks 👍, in fact for last 6 months I am trying to buy manjapai, inspite of best, no shop sell this Pls see to that it’s easily available on street shops as well and ensure bag is very slim, so that can have it in trouser packet as well

Nice thinking and good effort 👏

Its great. People are waiting for this alternate to plastic easily accessible and affordable. Once done full-fledged, we can easily get rid of plastic and set an example to other states as well. Great work mam.

Thoughtful Initiatives….you can involve Textile Industry of TN to provide raw material from their Manufacturing waste for cloth bags ( Just a thought).

@supriyasahuias great idea. But this needs UPI payments integration if the machine has to succeed at scale. Searching for coins every time is impractical, wherever you install them. So please get UPI integrated if not already in (I can’t see it in the video).

Splendid. My suggestion is to make it accept electronic payments as well apart from just coins. Not everyone would be carrying coins around. The transaction cost might be there but then the machine would be more useful to everyone that way.

— Sriram (彬彬), MBA MA BTECHIT (@svmbaekohau) May 21, 2022

In December last year, Chief Minister MK Stalin launched an environment-friendly initiative named Meendum Manjapai Vizhipunarvu Iyakkam (Back to Yellow Cloth Bag Awareness Campaign) to promote the alternative to plastic bags.

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