Young people against the use of plastic
VENUS VINOD
REUTERS
Plastic menace: They will choke the earth soon.
Thrissur
An anti-plastic campaign by students of Sal Sabeel School in Thrissur recently saw them visiting shops in Peramangalam village and handing out paper shopping bags. The students launched the campaign in the presence of Kerala Forest Minister Benoy Viswam. The campaign came close on the heels of Thrissur Corporation’s decision to ban the use and sale of plastic products below 30 microns. The Corporation decided to cancel licenses of shops that sold these products and t
ake action against those who dumped plastic waste in public places. “We made paper bags in our spare time and went around the village asking people to avoid plastic,” said Aparna Chandran, a student.The students secured orders from local shop-owners to supply paper bags free of cost.
Planned crusade
“In the first phase of the campaign, we plan to make about 150 bags a week and supply them to shops. Nothing makes a campaign more effective than direct intervention,” said Sudev S. Chirappat, a student. The school lays emphasis on practical education and has started several participatory programmes. Principal Shobana Sudhakaran explained, “We don’t want our children to just shout slogans. We want them to contribute something practically.” The school has also launched a vermiculture programme under which students visit villages and try to convince people to start vermicompost in their homes. “Once the people agree, our children will go and provide labour,” Ms. Sudhakaran said. The school has also planted about 1,000 saplings under a Government scheme to promote bush jasmine cultivation. The plants will be maintained by students and manure from the vermicompost in the school will be used.
The school plans to plant 4,000 jasmine on five acres. The parent executive body of the school has taken responsibility to transport the flowers to the market. Proceeds from the sale will finance the education of indigent students in the school and ten children from Mundur village.
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