Tamil Nadu - Tirunelveli   

Awareness campaign on plastic pollution launched in Tirunelveli

— Photo: A. Shaikmohideen.

MESSAGE: An awareness programme on solid waste management in progress at Palayamkottai on Monday.

TIRUNELVELI: An awareness campaign on solid waste management and segregation of plastic waste at source was inaugurated at Palayamkottai on Monday.

As the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board recently allotted Rs.2 lakh each for Tirunelveli and Tuticorin Corporations and Rs.1 lakh for Nagercoil municipality, the local bodies have planned to conduct a series of campaigns.

Moreover, these local bodies have agreed to segregate the non-recyclable plastic waste and send it to India Cements Limited’s manufacturing unit at Sankar Nagar on the outskirts of Tirunelveli, where the hazardous waste will be shredded, mixed with cashew shell and used as fuel along with coal, the regular fuel. To sensitise the public to the need for segregating the plastic waste at source, the TNPCB will assist the civic bodies in organising awareness programmes.

Launching the campaign at St. John’s Higher Secondary School, Palayamkottai, Minister for Environment, Youth Welfare and Sports T.P.M. Maideen Khan said the awareness campaign should create an awareness among the public of the adverse impact of pollution being caused by the plastic products, particularly by the non-recyclable plastic materials, should encourage the public to switch over to the materials other than the plastic to the maximum possible extent so that generation of plastic waste would minimise significantly. Mr. Maideen Khan, who released a folk songs compact disc for creating an awareness.Collector M. Jayaraman said the local body representatives, government officials, teachers and students should launch a coordinated campaign against the use of plastic materials, particularly the plastic products having a thickness of 20 micron and below and its hostile impact on the environment when it was discarded.

TNPCB Chairman R. Balakrishnan, TNPCB Member-Secretary R. Ramachandran, Senior vice-president of ICL S. Nandakumar and others spoke.

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