Dubai: UAE resident Thirumalai Ganesh Sheerapathi, who hails from Pondicherry in Tamil Nadu, has bagged the second prize at the Waterpedia’s World Environment Day 2018 International photo contest on the topic “Planet or Plastic- Beat Plastic Pollution”.

Waterpedia, which is a free online knowledge sharing platform by-and-for the global community to share images, infographics, and illustrations supporting the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals, organised this photo contest to celebrate World Environment Day 2018.

Shreepathi’s photo is about a child watching plastic bottles being washed ashore by a wave. Presenting the picture for the contest, Shreepathi said: “Let this not be the treasure we leave for our children. Social responsibility starts from our home. Dumping garbage in the ocean is affecting aquatic life which will affect us in the future. The child in the picture is uncovering the ugly truth that we are leaving the planet dirty for them to live in. Let's say no to "Disposable plastic items".

The first prize was won by Sudip Maiti from Kolkata whose picture was of labourers working in a plastic recycle factory in Canning Town, West Bengal. Maiti message with the photo is: “Plastic recycling is the process of recovering scrap or waste plastic and reprocessing the material into useful products. Since the vast majority of plastic is non-biodegradable, recycling is a part of global efforts to reduce plastic in the waste stream, especially waste plastic that enter the Earth's ocean. This helps to reduce the high rates of plastic pollution.”

The third prize winner Pushpendu Paul is also from Kolkata. His winning entry is that of a woman sorting plastic waste to be sent for recycling.

The photo contest was judged by an elite panel comprising three renowned international photographers Joao Taborda, EFIAP, SPSA, from Portugal; KP Devadasan, Picture Editor, Gulf News, UAE, and Mohammed Arfan Asif, EFIAP/G, ARPS, EPSA, from the UAE.

The contest theme encourages us all to consider how individuals can make changes in our everyday lives to reduce the heavy burden of plastic pollution in our natural places, our wildlife, and our own health.

The 1st Prize winner gets $100 sponsored by Dubai based FarmChimp; the second prize winner get $75 sponsored by a Waterpedia supporter Manoj, while third Prize was sponsored by Waterpedia.

Waterpedia calls upon citizens to act as both consumers and informed citizens, demanding sustainable products and embracing sensible consumption habits in their own lives.