Pioneer in plastic fight, Sikkim town is set to introduce bamboo bottles
MORE THAN eight years after it became the first town in Sikkim, and arguably India, to completely ban packaged drinking water bottles, Lachen is set to introduce bamboo bottles as an alternative.
Located 129 km from Gangtok, at a height of 2,750 metres, the Himalayan town’s snow-capped hills, aquamarine lakes, red pandas and a rhododendron trek draw nearly one lakh tourists annually. It was the plastic bottles left behind by them that prompted Lachen to introduce the ban. The initiative was entirely community driven, with its barely 2,500 inhabitants of mostly Lachengpa community lending support.
The bamboo water bottles have been ordered from Assam through Sikkim Rajya Sabha MP Hishey Lachungpa. Sikkim was the first state in the country to take steps against the use of plastic, bringing in restrictive measures as far back as 1998. In 2016, it banned the use of packaged drinking water in government offices as well as at all government events. Traditionally, Lachen had been a town of apple growers. Over the years, this waned as more and more young people either opted for government jobs or picked up other professions like driving or trade. Then tourism boomed, and the town saw 30 hotels come up over the past 10-15 years. The main organisations behind the packaged water ban are the Lachen Tourism Development Committee (LTDC), comprising locals, and the Dzumsa, which is like a local panchayat found only in this part of North Sikkim. The Dzumsa is headed by village heads called Pipon.
