Meghalaya chief minister Conrad K. Sangma wants citizens of the state to “say no” to the use of plastic bags as organic carry bags have begun surfacing in some stores in the city.

On June 5, which was World Environment Day, Conrad launched Saindur Enviro organic bags or SE organic bags here.

The organisation, Saindur Enviro Pvt. Ltd. was founded by Vivek Kumar, Wansuk Lapasam and Napoleon Mawphniang. The SE organic bags are said to be fully compostable and are an alternative to polythene carry bags.

During the launch, officials of the company said the bags would be available in all sizes, including garbage bags up to 15kg holding capacity.

Since June 5, the bags have been introduced in some shops in and around the city, prompting Conrad to come out with an appeal to citizens to do away with polythene bags.

“Happy to see the bio-organic bags launched on World Environment Day this year have started making their way to the market. Encourage all to start using these bags and saying ‘no’ to plastic. Small steps we all can make for our environment,” Conrad stated on his Twitter account on Saturday while posting pictures of some of the shops which have started giving the organic bags to shoppers.

On World Environment Day, 1.5 million saplings were planted in Meghalaya under the “One citizen one tree” campaign.

The government had announced planting of one million saplings in about 306 springsheds across the state. Another 460,000 saplings were planted in villages located under 46 community and rural development blocks.

Plantation in the springsheds was a Rs 4.11-crore project under the National Adaptation Fund for Climate Change (NAFCC) as part of the initiative to protect vulnerable springs and rejuvenate their catchments/recharge areas.