Anna Binoy By

Express News Service

KOCHI:After the floods ravaged the state, help poured in kind and money from all quarters to help those in relief camps. Almost a week later, people are heading home. But what of the plastic waste that now lies in heaps at these camps? Trying to solve this problem, two men - Roshan V K and Jithendran A V - have been spearheading a plastic elimination drive for two days.

Called ‘Recycle Kerala’, the campaign aims at eliminating plastic waste by recycling them. For this, volunteers have been collecting recyclable plastic waste, especially water bottles, from relief camps. “We collect plastic waste which is at least two weeks old, but we don’t take flex sheets, because it cannot be recycled,” says Jithendran, who has been coordinating the collection in Kochi.

According to Roshan, who is a Bengaluru-based IT professional, a total of 5 tonnes has been collected in two days. Now the waste will be transported to a recycling plant at Kanjikode in Palakkad.According to their calculations, more than 25 lakh plastic water bottles were sent by different parties, including themselves, to the state in four days. “Only after sending them did we realise the amount of waste the relief materials will be creating,” says Roshan. “At that time, we saw a photo of a bridge near Perumbavoor on which a lot of waste had been deposited when the water receded. So I spoke to two firms in Bengaluru and they agreed to recycle the waste. Subsequently, I posted on Facebook asking people to collect and send back the plastic waste on the same trucks that were bringing relief materials from Bengaluru.”

Responding to Roshan’s post, more than 50 volunteers turned up. They were allotted camps and WhatsApp groups were created for coordination. “However, the transportation was not working out. That’s when the recycling firm in Palakkad agreed to work with us,” he says.

They both agree this initiative is a short-term solution. “We are hoping the government will come up with a long-term plan. We will be discussing about this with the authorities,” says Roshan. “Given the current circumstances, this probably won’t be the government’s first priority. So people should consider plastic elimination as their civic responsibility.”

Waste from relief material

According to their calculations, more than 25 lakh plastic water bottles were sent by different parties to the state in four days