Hindalco, Jute Corporation jointly launch reusable bags for Tirupati Temple

These bags have an aluminium foil lamination so that the laddoos retain freshness and aroma and remain free from moisture and bacteria

Hindalco Industries Ltd, in partnership with Jute Corporation of India, has launched the country's first aluminium-foil-laminated jute bags for Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), which administers the Tirumala Venkateswara Temple in Andhra Pradesh, as part of its effort to reduce single-use plastic. The company plans to roll out these jute bags at other temples across India, and for other industries, too, as a smart and sustainable packaging option.

These new bags will substitute plastic bags used for carrying the famous Laddu Prasadam. The aluminium foil lamination ensures that the ladduoos retain freshness and aroma, and remain free from moisture and bacteria. These 100 per cent recyclable bags are expected to replace single-use plastic bags.

Satish Pai, MD, Hindalco Industries, said, "The environment-friendly packaging option is another example of how Hindalco is guided by its purpose -- Making Metals that are Greener, Stronger, Smarter. Going forward, we aspire to make aluminium the ‘smart metal of choice’ for our customers by showcasing it as a supermaterial, with innate properties of strength, light weight, anti-corrosion and 100 per cent recyclability."

The jute cloth for the bags has been facilitated by Jute Corporation of India through its affiliate bodies and was laminated with food-grade aluminium foil at Hindalco’s Aluminium foil manufacturing plant in Mouda and Nagpur. The jute cloth is laminated with food-grade aluminium foil, and sent to artisans in Telangana for fabricating the bags in different sizes. The bags are available at Rs 25 and at Rs 55 per bag depending on the number of Laddoos.

Ajay Kumar Jolly, chairman and managing director Jute Corporation of India remarked, “The partnership with Hindalco has been an innovative journey to find a unique and sustainable solution to plastic pollution. India’s natural materials offer tremendous scope for alternative packaging materials.” There is a strong response to the aluminium-foil jute bags and already 60,000 bags have been sold in different sizes.