The district gazetted a ban on nineteen single-use plastic items in May 2018, and this is the list its own staff check bags against: plastic carry bags of any thickness, plastic cups, use-and-throw tumblers, plastic spoons, forks and knives, straws, paper cups, paper tumblers, plastic- and foil-lined paper plates, thermocol plates and cups and loose thermocol, non-woven bags and bed sheets and caps, plastic gloves, plastic water packets, silver foil covers, plastic packing materials, plastic bouquets and foil gift wrap, laminated brown sheets, laminated bakery boxes, plastic banana leaf, and plastic festoons. On directions of the Madras High Court, 1–4 litre water cans and soft-drink bottles are banned as well.
A later and wider order of the Madras High Court bans 28 plastic items across the whole of the Western Ghats, from the Nilgiris down to the Agasthiyar biosphere, and covers making, storing, carrying and selling them, not only bringing them in. The practical reading for anyone packing: treat single-use plastic as not allowed here at all, rather than trying to check your bag against a list.
Banned items are seized and a fine is charged. Self-help-group kiosks at the Kallar and Kunjappanai checkposts sell steel and copper bottles and other permitted containers to people who arrive with banned ones.