The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : Corporation plans drive for plastic-free city

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Sep 20, 2007
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Kerala

Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Corporation plans drive for plastic-free city

Special correspondent

To organise exhibitions and debates

NSS and NCC volunteers to take part in the campaign
Posters, pamphlets will be supplied to schools

Thiruvananthapuram: Mayor C. Jayan Babu on Wednesday stressed the need for public participation in the campaign to rid the city of the menace posed by non-biodegradable materials like plastic. Addressing representatives of educational institutions at a meeting convened to discuss means to enforce the plastic ban, he sought the cooperation of people from all walks of life to make the campaign a success.

The Mayor said the indiscriminate use of plastic had gone up over the past 20 years. Plastic waste foul the environment and make sanitation difficult, he said.

Mr. Jayan Babu said the Corporation would take the initiative to organise exhibitions and debates to highlight the hazards of plastic and to promote the use of substitute materials such as paper and cloth. A two-hour intensive drive will be taken up at the Corporation headquarters and zonal offices on September 26 to rid the premises of plastic waste. The local body will also institute an award for the institution with the best performance in the plastic-free campaign.

The campaign will reach out to children and utilise their services to clean up school and college premises and their houses. The meeting chalked out an action plan for the campaign. The programme will take off with a pledge at the school assembly on Friday. This will be followed by competitions in painting, poster design, cartoon and slogan writing.

Children will be encouraged to exhibit posters in each classroom and awards will be presented for the best plastic-free class.

A scoring system will be introduced to evaluate the students’ participation in the campaign.

Students will also be given projects to promote the use of substitute materials. The best project will be given an award.

The winners of the school and college-level competitions will participate in the Corporation-level contest.

NSS and NCC volunteers will be drafted into the campaign to remove plastic waste from college campuses.

The Corporation will supply the posters, pamphlets, documentary films and score cards for the school-level campaign.

On September 28, students in city schools will join hands with employees, and NSS and NCC volunteers to collect plastic waste. G.R. Anil, Chairman of the Corporation’s standing committee on Health, presided over the meeting. Health Officer D. Sreekumar was also present.

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