KOZHIKODE: Till recently, Kozhikode city was filled with plastic waste. This changed when Niravau Vengeri, a collective forum of 100 households, decided to collect the plastic waste and recycle it in its plastic shredding unit at West Hill.
In what might point to public's changing attitude towards managing plastic waste, the collective is now facing a shortage of plastic to re-cycle!
The facility at West Hill has the capacity to recycle close to 6 tonne a day. However, less than 2 tonne of plastic waste is recycled in a day. "This shows how much the public's attitude have changed towards managing plastic wastes from their houses", said Babu Parabath, Niravu project director.
"Even the city looks much cleaner since we cleared the heaps of waste mounted at various places. K.P. Chandran Road, vacant space near Kallayi bridge, space opposite to the light house, Karaparamba-Kudunparamba mini bypass, Arabondagosh Road and Sarovaram were dumping yards for the local people. We have cleared all the waste from these areas," he added.
"The situation is such that there are days when we get very less amount of plastic collected from the city," Mr Babu pointed out. Rather than advocating a complete ban on plastic usage, Niravu is on a mission to educate public on how to manage the plastic waste and send it for recycling.
On Friday, city corp and district administration, in association with Niravu, will conduct an awareness programme on plastic waste management for city residents at Tagore Centenary Hall from 10 am.
