Plastic-free project at mental health centre - Kozikhode

NSS volunteers from Providence Women's College with the support of the Niravu, a residents' forum, collect plastic waste from the premises of the Government Mental Health Centre at Kuthiravattom on Saturday
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‘Niravu’, a Vengeri-based residents’ forum functioning with the support of the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), on Saturday, launched its Zero Budget- Zero Waste project at the Kuthiravattom Government Mental Health Centre.

The project, implemented with the cooperation of National Service Scheme volunteers, would strive to ensure a plastic-waste-free environment at the Mental Health Centre. To mark the launch, over 100 NSS volunteers and 26 members of ‘Niravu’ collected plastic waste from the hospital premises and segregated it to send to a recycling unit.

Project coordinators said a convenient space had been allotted at the hospital to keep the segregated plastic materials, including syringe, covers, bottles and glasses, and move them on a monthly basis to the recycling units. “On the inaugural day, we collected over 50 sacks of plastic waste from the compound,” they said. The residents’ forum, with its network with various recycling units in Kerala and outside, would move the segregated waste for recycling on a monthly basis. The cost of transportation would be met through the sum received as revenue though the trade of segregated waste.

“For the past eight years, we have been implementing the Zero Budget, Zero Waste scheme in various locations. Currently, it is under way at the Karipur International airport and three other wards of the Kuruvattor grama panchayat,” said Babu Parambath, one of the coordinators of the project. He said it would be shortly launched on the Indian Institute of Management-Kozhikode campus and the National Institute of Technology-Calicut.

Five recycling units, including one from Erode in Tamil Nadu, have already contacted Niravu authorities for permission to collect the segregated plastic waste on a regular basis from various locations. Coordinators said the proper segregation process of plastic waste would certainly attract buyers. 


Source : The Hindu , 10th August 2014