‘Himalayan Clean-up’ drive by MLCU

‘Himalayan Clean-up’ drive by MLCU

A Reporter

SHILLONG, May 26: The Martin Luther Christian University, Shillong in collaboration with the State Coordinator, Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin) and Meghalaya Urban Affairs Department organised a ‘Himalayan Clean-up’ activity as part of a campaign launched by the Integrated Mountain Initiative (IMI) and Zero Waste Himalayas to create awareness on the ill-effects of plastic on the environment.

The ultimate objective is to move towards a zero plastic world in the 12 mountain states of the country including the North-eastern states and adopt the traditional mode of packaging of food material and reduce our dependence on plastics.

Department of Environment & Traditional Ecosystems (DETE), Department of Tourism and Travel Management (DTTM) and Department of Social Work (DSW) of the Martin Luther Christian University and volunteers from NEEDS, Shillong launched the ‘Himalayan Clean-up’ today at Police Bazar (Khyndailad) in Shillong which was inaugurated by the Director, Urban Affairs, Government of Meghalaya.

The speakers exhorted the youth to bring about transformational change in our mindset towards pollution. They urged upon the gathering to discourage the use of plastics and save the planet from going under the garbage.

The function was presided over by Subhasish Das Gupta, Head, Department of Environment & Traditional Ecosystems, Martin Luther Christian University, Shillong. The brief function was followed by an extensive cleaning of the Police Bazar area, one of the busiest markets of Shillong.

The students and teachers of the university segregated the waste in to various categories like PET bottles, multilayered packaging bottles, branded plastic products, non-branded plastic products and sanitary napkins among others after collecting it from the whole market. This formed a part of the waste audit that was carried out by the student volunteers to get a comprehensive idea about the nature of waste generated.

This was followed by sorting the waste in to categories by a process called “Brand Audit” which involved identification of brands most commonly preferred by people, contributing to the larger share of waste.

Related Stories

No stories found.
Sentinel Assam
www.sentinelassam.com