<p>Lord Venkateshwara devotees can now carry home their beloved swami-prasadam laddus in an eco-friendly way and can dispose of the bags later by feeding them to cattle if they wish to.</p>.<p>The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), with the help of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), has now introduced laddu bags made from corn starch.</p>.<p>These bags are “ocean-safe” and are consumable by the cattle.</p>.<p>A sales counter of the DRDO-made biodegradable bags was opened at the Laddu Complex near the Tirumala shrine on Sunday.</p>.<p>“Our Advanced Systems Laboratory in Hyderabad is involved in research to find the best environmentally friendly replacement for the hazardous plastic. We have come out with these eco-friendly bags made of corn starch which degrades naturally within 90 days. These bags are not harmful even if the cattle consume them,” said DRDO chairman Satish Reddy.</p>.<p>While the conventional polyethene bags are toxic to the environment and take nearly 200 years to degrade, these corn starch bags are offered as a “sustainable, cost-effective and ocean-safe alternative”.</p>.<p>A bag worth two rupees can hold five to six laddus and a Rs 5 bag has a capacity of around 10.</p>.<p>TTD Executive Officer Jawahar Reddy said that they plan to commence “full-fledged sale of DRDO bags, after taking the pilgrims' feedback for a few days.”</p>.<p>To minimise single-use plastic on the Tirumala hill, the TTD had earlier stopped the sale of plastic bags at its laddu counters and had replaced them with cloth, jute bags.</p>.<p>The TTD has plans to make Tirumala a plastic-free zone soon. While the sale of plastic water bottles is banned, devotees are advised not to carry such plastic bottles with them to the temple town.</p>.<p>“All the shopkeepers and locals too should cooperate in the TTD's mission to eradicate plastic from Tirumala", an additional EO Dharma Reddy said earlier.</p>.<p><strong>Check out DH's latest videos:</strong></p>
<p>Lord Venkateshwara devotees can now carry home their beloved swami-prasadam laddus in an eco-friendly way and can dispose of the bags later by feeding them to cattle if they wish to.</p>.<p>The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), with the help of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), has now introduced laddu bags made from corn starch.</p>.<p>These bags are “ocean-safe” and are consumable by the cattle.</p>.<p>A sales counter of the DRDO-made biodegradable bags was opened at the Laddu Complex near the Tirumala shrine on Sunday.</p>.<p>“Our Advanced Systems Laboratory in Hyderabad is involved in research to find the best environmentally friendly replacement for the hazardous plastic. We have come out with these eco-friendly bags made of corn starch which degrades naturally within 90 days. These bags are not harmful even if the cattle consume them,” said DRDO chairman Satish Reddy.</p>.<p>While the conventional polyethene bags are toxic to the environment and take nearly 200 years to degrade, these corn starch bags are offered as a “sustainable, cost-effective and ocean-safe alternative”.</p>.<p>A bag worth two rupees can hold five to six laddus and a Rs 5 bag has a capacity of around 10.</p>.<p>TTD Executive Officer Jawahar Reddy said that they plan to commence “full-fledged sale of DRDO bags, after taking the pilgrims' feedback for a few days.”</p>.<p>To minimise single-use plastic on the Tirumala hill, the TTD had earlier stopped the sale of plastic bags at its laddu counters and had replaced them with cloth, jute bags.</p>.<p>The TTD has plans to make Tirumala a plastic-free zone soon. While the sale of plastic water bottles is banned, devotees are advised not to carry such plastic bottles with them to the temple town.</p>.<p>“All the shopkeepers and locals too should cooperate in the TTD's mission to eradicate plastic from Tirumala", an additional EO Dharma Reddy said earlier.</p>.<p><strong>Check out DH's latest videos:</strong></p>
