CHENNAI: The Director of School Education through a circular on Tuesday instructed all schools to avoid using single-use plastics (SUP), both within and outside the school premises.
Further, in order to help students recycle the such plastic items they already have at home, the director has asked schools to tie up with local bodies and collect and pass on the waste from the school to a proper disposal or recycling unit.
The single-use plastic items, including plastic bags, Styrofoam cups and plastic cutlery among others should be collected by schools and spread awareness on alternatives among students. "Suitable instruction
may be given to headmasters to encourage children and teachers to write songs, poems, jingles discouraging the use of SUP," the circular said.
The initiative comes as a part of the Central government's Swachchata Hi Seva (cleanliness is service) campaign, through which mass awareness will be conducted on plastic waste management, preparation for collection, disposal of plastic waste will be conducted. This year's theme for the campaign is Plastic Waste Management.
The campaign will begin on Wednesday and run all the way until Gandhi Jayanthi when a mass SUP collection drive should be conducted by schools, the circular said. Further, from October 3 to 27, the
collected waste should be recycled or disposed effectively, the circular said.
The Tamil Nadu government has however enforced a ban on single-use plastics across the state with effect from January 1, this year. The announcement regarding this was made in June 2018, by Chief Minister
Edappadi K Palaniswami in the Assembly. “Let us gift a plastic-free Tamil Nadu to the future generation,” he had said.