The haphazard dumping of plastic wastes is polluting water bodies and causing the death of fish. One in every three plastic wastes is reaching the drains and from there into the rivers and ultimately into the ocean, Vinod Bodhankar, co-founder of Sagarmitra, has said.
At a webinar on ‘Mana Nudi, Mana Nadi’ on the theme of ‘Plastic waste management through people’s participation’, Mr. Vinod said that the ultraviolet rays of the sun was breaking plastic wastes into small pieces. The fish and birds were mistaking them for food and eating them, resulting in their death. He explained that the Krishna river carries plastic wastes from Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh and dumps it into the Bay of Bengal. The same was the case with plastic wastes getting dumped into oceans across the world.
Sagarmitra, in association with Jalbiradari, has been creating awareness among schoolchildren against the hazards of dumping of plastic wastes. The participating children were asked to collect the plastic wastes, generated at their homes, like bottles and empty toothpaste containers every month and bring the collection to the school. Sagarmitra tied up with a plastic manufacturer and the latter would pick up the wastes for recycling. The manufacturer would pay the school management for the collection. The money collected would be utilised by the school managements, in consultation with the students, for providing gifts to children of martyrs, development of school infrastructure or giving donations to poor students and staff.
The movement, which began with 150 members in 2013, has now three lakh students as members in three nations – India (Maharashtra), America and Morocco. The objective of Sagarmitra was to get the concept included in the curriculum of schools across the world, with the approval of the United Nations Organisation (UNO), he said.
Social activist Bolisetty Satyanarayana, programme coordinator, said that a similar programme would soon be taken up for the purification of rivers in Rayalaseema, on the suggestion of Waterman of India Rajendra Singh.
