|
"I only feel angry when I see waste.
When I see people throwing away things we could use. "- Mother Teresa
TheGreen Movement of NIT Raipur carried out the second phase of its campus clean up initiative on the 26th of January 2012.
The program dedicated towards making the campus premises cleaner and greener targeted all forms of non-biodegradable waste strewn around the campus in order to create awareness among the student population to the devastation and long term damage they cause to the campus premises and the world in total.
It was a full-fledged cleaning campaign in which more than one hundred students participated with great enthusiasm.
The gathering was split into groups and each group was allocated a section of the campus in order to cover the complete campus effectively and these groups were supported and urged on by the staff members who were present who themselves eagerly got involved in the cleaning process.The cleanup areas included main building, architecture building, canteen, some part of staff quarters and their premises. Also cleanup was carried out along the roads starting from entrance towards railway station.
The cleaning campaign lasted for more than one and half hours where the boys and girls battled the hot sun to achieve their goal of a clean and ecofriendly campus and take the opportunity presented to them to contribute towards a polythene free sustainable environment. EVENT DETAILS:
• Date: 26th January'12
• Venue: Throughout the college campus
• Time: 09:00 am to 10:30 am
• Number of volunteers: 150 students
COLLECTION: Total gunny bags collected: 36 (an improvement over last year's collection of 23)
OBSERVATIONS:
Main Cycle Stand (In front of the open stage) – Heaps of Frooti (or similar drink that is available at the college canteen), Pouches of drinking water and packets containing toxicated material were found strewn callously.
Canteen – Major portion of garbage were accumulated from canteen. The main constituents were Frooti packets and Water pouches , and plastic wastes in form of disposable materials.
Motorbike Shed in front of Hostel-G – Lots of office waste like chalk boxes etc, snacks wrappers and guthka packets were found. This place is abundant with such wastes and it could be easily inferred that wastes are frequently dumped there. No further action is taken after this dumping. This draws attention for immediate and thorough cleaning of that area.
Trespassers road(connecting Sarawatinagar Railway Station to G.E. Road) – Along the sides of these roads, snacks wrappers(chips, chocolates, namkeens) were found in large numbers.
College gardens – Only few soft drink packets were collected. These area showed signs of periodic waste disposal as only a small fraction of the total collection belonged to these places.
INFERENCES:
• Despite having placed dustbins at canteens, we observe students seldom use it. A stricter rule needs to be implemented.
• The college needs a dedicated dumping place and frequent visits of municipal van are anticipated.
• It is required to completely banned the use non degradable plastic waste in form of plastic cups and polythene bags.
OUTCOMES AND SUGGESTIONS EMERGING FROM THE ABOVE PROGRAMME-
• Identification of key locations to place waste collection bins for both bio degradable and non-degradable items.
• Identification of the main sources of pollution which jeopardizes the institutions aesthetic as well as natural beauty.
• A greater understanding among the student population about the extent of infiltration plastics have managed.
• The revival of a municipal cleaning and collection routine which once existed but since long had become dormant.
• Identification of the main factor for plastic accumulation in and around the canteen and playing ground which are the plastic tea cups and water packets. It has been suggested to the authorities to encourage the use of glass tea cups and install a water cooler at the canteen on a permanent basis. |
