Kochi: How about school students using eco-friendly cloth pouches instead of rexine ones this academic year?
The Ernakulam St Teresa's College in a tie up with the Harita Keralam Mission has initiated the campaign by collecting tailoring wastes and making pouches out of them for school students.
Student volunteers will collect wastes from tailoring shops from select areas while women from Kudumbashree Mission and children from poor families would make the cloth pouches.
"Besides spreading message of usage of eco-friendly products, we wanted to extend financial aid to the poor. So we included Kudumbashree women workers and students from financially struggling families. We started with 15 workers in each unit and will include more in the coming days," said Dr Nirmala Padmanabhan, associate professor, department of economics.
The college has set up dedicated manufacturing units in Turuthikkara of Mulanthuruhty panchayat, Mulavukad, Paravur and Trippunithura panchayats.
The 'Changathi Cheppu' pouches will be sold at Rs 25 per piece and will be made available in markets by this week-end. The college students too will play their role in marketing the products by promoting them in social media to make the younger generation aware of the need to do way with non biodegradable materials.
What prompted the college authorities to take up the initiative was a survey carried out by the department of economics with the backing of the Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment in Ezhikkara panchayat of Paravur taluk a few months ago. "A random survey was conducted from among 300 students and we found 60 per cent of them using rexine pouches, which are non bio-degradable. We aim to set up units in all panchayats in the state by next year,” she said.
