THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Contributing to the corporation’s efforts to mitigate a crucial crisis of the capital city, more than 1,000 tonnes of waste was removed from the district’s water bodies in the last 4.5 years. Of the collected waste, 23.87 tonnes of PET (Polyethylene Terephthalate) and 2,150 kg of Multi-Layer Plastics (MLP) were recycled.
According to reports, 79% of debris on the banks of major water bodies like Karamana river and Menamkulam beach is plastic. The microplastic density is the highest in two water bodies -- Karamana and Killi rivers.
As much as 1,036.513 tonnes of debris was collected from 15 water bodies from 2022 to June 2026, through Plastic Waste-Free Rivers Project implemented by Allianz Technologies as part of its CSR activity, along with NGOs Thanal Trust and Sustera Foundation.
In an attempt to bring in an attitude change among people, 20 trash bins were also introduced as part of the project in different beachsides to encourage visitors, local merchants and residents to dispose of waste responsibly, and close to 2,061 kg of plastic waste was collected.
The project was implemented by deploying TrashBooms, developed by the German company Plastic Fischer, to intercept, collect and manage plastic waste being thrown into the rivers, thereby preventing them from reaching the oceans.
Provisions were set up in 15 sites across the district in key water bodies including Pattom thodu, Thampanoor thodu, Ulloor thodu, Amayizhanchan thodu, Kariyil thodu, Thekkinakara canal, Killi river, Karmana river and Thettiyar canal, to ensure effective interventions.
Special emphasis was given to the Amayizhanchan canal to solve the clogged drains at crucial locations. Material Recovery Facilities (MRF) were set up in Injakkal, Venpalavattom and Vallakadavu to dry, segregate and bale waste into more manageable sizes to store and further process.
Supporting the activity, Mayor V V Rajesh said the efforts should be seen as valuable contribution to a problem which the city had been facing for the past 50 years. “While many organisations allocate their CSR funds for welfare activities, it is commendable that this firm is doing ground-level work with direct social impact as part of CsR activities,” he said.