“In our food court and bookshops, thicker plastic bags were being used. After the ban, we have decided to completely do away with them. Now we are going to use only brown paper bags,” a spokesperson of the Akshardham Temple said. “We did not want to cause any trouble or offend anyone by using plastic bags.”

Across the city, the switch from plastic to other alternatives is happening slowly but surely.

In Bengali Market, shopkeepers have started to give products in paper bags. Besides, RWAs are coming forward. “This is an ethical issue,” V K Vaid, secretary general of the Federation of Vasant Kunj Resident Welfare Associations, said. “We are asking our residents to use jute bags; they can be used more than plastic bags. And after residents, we will start talking to shopkeepers in malls and elsewhere.”

Khadi Gram Udyog has started selling in paper bags, which it says, are more economical than khadi bags.

Environmentalist Vinod Jain, who had initially appealed in court against plastic bags, said: “It is heartening to see the change. Plastic bags cause litter and settle on the Yamuna river bed. We should aspire to go completely plastic-bag free like Chandigarh.”