As part of Kannur municipality’s initiative for a comprehensive waste management system for the municipal area, students would be involved for creating awareness on proper garbage disposal. Efforts to rope in residents’ associations and merchants are already under way.
The preliminary works for launching the project named ‘Susthira’ launched by the municipality in association with the Kerala Initiative to Save Agriculture and Nature (KISAN) have already started. The project would be formally launched on January 26.
Meetings
Separate meetings of representatives of residents associations and merchants have already been held to sensitise the residents and merchants to the importance of the project which in the first phase will focus on collection and recycling of plastic waste.
As an extension to the campaign, meetings of headmasters/Principals and PTA presidents in the educational institutions in the municipal area are being convened to ensure the involvement of the students in the project.
Municipal vice-chairman and chairman of KISAN, T.O. Mohanan said that in the first phase a meeting was held at the Chinmaya Mission College having a student strength of 1,500 students.
Student conveners and teachers identified in each class will drive home the message of proper garbage disposal to the students of the institution and through them 1,500 households in municipal area and suburbs.
A major component of the project was to start plastic collection centres in selected places in the town.
In the first phase, a plastic collection centre will be set up at the stadium complex here.
Waste plastic carry bags will be collected here for recycling. Mr. Mohanan said that KISAN will arrange the collection of plastic waste from the students on selected days.
The campaign against plastic being launched as part of the project has already started yielding results.
Pledge
Meat sellers surrendered to the municipality the plastic carry bags with less than 40 micron thickness on January 10. They also took a pledge that they will not use the plastic carry bags with less than 40 micron thickness. Cloth carry bags will be distributed in the next phase as part of discouraging the use of plastic carry bags.
Source: The Hindu, January 13, 2014