Remember to leave your picnic hampers behind if you are planning a winter outing at New Town’s Eco Park.

From Christmas Eve, no one will be allowed to enter the 480-acre park with food from outside, an officer of Hidco that runs and maintains the park, said.

The decision was taken because visitors at the park often leave behind styrofoam plates, plastic glasses, utensils and discarded food items in the park.

“We face an uphill task everyday to clean the park by 9am every day. Although there are adequate waste bins in place, many visitors would often leave behind uneaten food, plates and plastic glasses,” Hidco chairman Debashis Sen said.

In case visitors do turn up with food baskets they will be directed to open spaces near gate number one and four where they will be able to have the food and leave the containers behind before entering the park.

“We will ask guards and the park employees to ensure people dump their waste items in the bins in these areas,” Sen said.

Eco Park has many food stalls on its premises and Hidco operates three restaurants, including Café Ekante and Ajante, in the park.

An attempt is being made to make the park a plastic-free zone.

All the food outlets in the park have waste bins and dedicated cleaners to ensure no waste items are left on the greens of the park, Sen said.

Eco Park has serpentine queues on winter weekends with crowds thronging there on Christmas and New Years day. Last year, the park had 1,30,000 visitors on New Years day, a Hidco official said.

Apart from the regular food stalls, the park will host the Food Olympics and three new food courts — that will have 40 stalls selling Italian, Japanese and Indian cuisine along with traditional Bengali desserts like puli and pithe — will be set up.