KOCHI: With the aim of inculcating the habit of proper and sensible disposal of waste, especially plastic waste, the Kochi Corporation, in an eco-friendly move, is set to install as many as 100 pen boxes at schools in city, a facility exclusively to collect and recycle used pens.
“We also aim to create awareness among children on the sensible management and recycling of pens, a product that they use the most. From the discussion with the officials of Government Girls School, we learnt that around 6,000 to 8,000 used pens are collected every month from the students. So we decided to bring in a system to collect and recycle these,” said V A Sreejith, the chairman of the education standing committee at the corporation.
The collected pens will be handed over to a government-accredited agency. Aluva-based Socioeconomic Unit Foundation has been entrusted to manufacture and supply 100 pen boxes.
“We have allotted Rs 10 lakh for implementing the project in schools under the Kochi corporation limits. As many as 66 pen boxes can be built using the fund.
We are also looking for CSR funds from organisations and cooperatives to ensure that at least 100 schools in the city have the facility,” added Sreejith, emphasising that the new facility will help the children cultivate a practice of segregating and disposing of the waste materials rather than throwing them into open spaces and classrooms.