Railways to replace plastic teacups with Kulhads soon

December 1, 2020 Hot from the Oven Valli Sarvani No comments

Indian Railways is mulling to replace plastic teacups with kulhads at all railway stations. Railway Minister Piyush Goyal said that Railways is planning to serve tea in kulhads soon to promote plastic-free India. Thus, it helps save the environment.

He says that this move also helps many people get employment. Serving tea in kulhads is a different experience. The demand for having tea in these earthen cups has been increasing among the passengers of the Railways. To meet it, the Railways directed the Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) to provide equipment for large-scale production of kulhads.

Railways started providing tea in kulhads at some railway stations. It plans to sell at all railway stations in future.

To promote, green catering, Railways wants to implement various measures. The North Western Railway zone started implementing measures.

As part of it, more than 25 railway stations like Jodhpur, Gandhi Nagar, Sikar etc. are serving tea and other food items in eco-friendly cups, plates and bowls.

Varanasi and Rae Bareli railway stations are serving in terracotta products.

Kulhads are made from clay. Initially, Lalu Prasad Yadav issued an order to serve tea and other beverages in kulhads in 2004 when he was a railway minister. This move was taken by him, to switch from plastic cups to an eco-friendly alternative.

After that, many railway ministers also proposed to implement greener alternatives to plastic cups and plates.

However, the carbon footprint of kulhads is debatable. Though kulhads are biodegradable, many scientists say that they do not have a small carbon footprint. They take several years to degrade in the soil. Moreover, the weight of a kulhad is more than that of a plastic cup. Hence, fewer kulhads are made per kg of soil than plastic cups. These issues need to be addressed.

Image Credit: Twit Rajat / CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons