AHMEDABAD: Animal lovers and cow-skinners across Gujarat have been red-flagging plastic clogging the innards of bovine cattle. Depending upon the area, estimated 15-30 kilos of plastic and other waste rendered heavy by bovine bodily fluids is removed from cow bellies. Cows feeding on carry bags and packing material carelessly strewn over roads are common sight in cities and towns.
Using this as fodder for thought, cow skinner Natubhai Parmar in Chotila has been drying up plastic removed from bovines and selling it as waste. "We started this exercise in 2018 to raise awareness about plastic killing cows and have raised nearly Rs 80,000 so far. Money is used to buy fodder to be donated for abandoned cows," Parmar said. His team recently celebrated the second birthday of orphan calf Gautami who was adopted and reared as their own!
In neighbouring Kuda village, another cow skinner Hirabhai Parmar segregated plastic removed from cows, dried and flattened it and used it to fill potholes on roads in some half a dozen villages. "This strengthens the roads and also makes locals aware about plastic menace," said Parmar.
Following multiple compassionate representations to curb plastic menace making bovines ill, Dhanji Maksana, BJP MLA from Wadhwan in Surendranagar, has bought a state-of-art Thermo-Catalytic Depolymerisation (TCD) machine which will process plastic waste to produce biofuel.
“Plastic waste processing will lead to less plastic on roads for cows to feed; plastic removed from bovines will also be used to generate fuel. Experts have been hired to kickstart the procedure," Maksana said.
