‘Manjappai’ to become off-white

CHENNAI: The yellow bag that became the face of Tamil Nadu’s ‘Meendum Manjappai’ campaign is soon be replaced with an off-white one, with the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) specifying off-white cotton bags in its latest tender for the cloth-bag vending machines.

The tender was floated for the operation and maintenance of 105 cloth-bag vending machines across Tamil Nadu and the machines will dispense cotton bags priced at Rs 5 each.

The one-year contract, valued at Rs 67 lakh, will cover the supply of cloth bags, regular servicing of the machines and their upkeep. The selected agency will have to keep the machines stocked based on demand, visit each machine once a week and attend to repairs whenever required.

TNPCB had reported 188 machines at high-footfall locations across the State and nearly 3.85 lakh bags dispensed by September 2024. By November 2025, the number had risen to 226, with 5.05 lakh bags dispensed across the State, TNPCB data reported at the time. The new tender, however, covers only 105 machines.

It marks a departure from the yellow cloth bag that was closely identified with the ‘Meendum Manjappai’ campaign launched by the DMK government in 2021 to encourage people to move away from single-use plastic bags. The campaign used the traditional yellow cloth bag as its visual symbol, with vending machines later introduced at busy public locations to make reusable bags available to people.