THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The week-long Onam celebration has drawn scores of visitors to the capital city. The City Corporation and the Suchitwa Mission are using this occasion to sensitise the public on the importance of adopting green protocol to root out single-use plastic and to promote source-level waste management. As many as 100 Green Army volunteers have been recruited and deployed at Kanakakunnu and other venues for this effort.
The civic body had once again entrusted Green Army International - a voluntary organisation - to ramp up its campaign against single-use plastic. Green Army, which was instituted during the term of the previous council seven years ago, has played a key role in the effective implementation of the green protocol and decentralised waste management. Its activities had come to a grinding halt when the new council took charge, much to their own chagrin, as the Covid years had seen a steep rise in the use of plastic. Even today, this plastic menace prevails despite the activities of waste management bodies.
“We are focusing on building awareness among the public. The use of single-use plastic items remains high in the market. Enforcement activities are ongoing, but rooting out this menace is a challenge. Thankfully, the public is a lot more welcoming of efforts to eliminate plastic. We are expecting good results,” said a senior official of City Corporation who is coordinating the green-army volunteers.
Scores of youngsters and NSS volunteers have registered to be part of the Green Army. Suchitwa Mission provides all technical support to the volunteers and gives them classes on the many waste management initiatives of the civic body. “I hail from a coastal village where waste management is given the least priority. I dream of bringing change in society,” says IAS aspirant Ajay Sreedhar, who is volunteering at Kanakakunnu.
“I have been working here for the past three days, and we can feel the change. Initially, people were bringing plastic bottles, and now the number of people coming to our water kiosks has gone up. They listen to us. Many student volunteers are also taking part. We are trying to do our bit for society,” he adds. Gaia India coordinator and Green Army mentor, K N Shibu, says the campaign is the key to strengthening decentralised waste management.
“Voluntary work can bring in better results, and the existing system needs to be strengthened and expanded. Recently, volunteers were involved in the beautification of a couple of Thumburmuzhy facilities. The scope is immense. The youngsters will help bring about changes at the grassroots level,” he says. V K Prasanth MLA, who spearheaded many campaigns using the Green Army during his tenure as City Corporation mayor, appreciated the move of the civic body to bring back the Green Army. “When we came up with this idea, the primary aim was to sensitise the young generation.
As part of the efforts, we constituted green army units at educational institutions. We formed the units in 32 educational institutions, and we mentored these young volunteers with the help of experts from various NGOs,” Prasanth says. “When the new council took charge, I had urged them not to discontinue it. Though it is after a big break, it’s a good thing that they relaunched the initiative,” he adds.
The civic body has roped in young volunteers to execute their next strategy in fight against the plastic menace: awareness campaigns. Scores of youngsters have registered, and the public is not holding back either