‘Roping’ in disposable plastic to create a better tomorrow
With single-use plastic becoming a huge environmental challenge, an initiative at Sriperumbudur will turn used disposable plastic carry bags — which have low recyclable value — collected from households into a 2-kilometre long rope. This is to create awareness and also attempt at entering the Limca Book of Records.
By : migrator
Update: 2018-06-21 18:42 GMT
Chennai
Hand in Hand Inclusive Development and Services has been handling the solid waste management for Sriperumbadur Town Panchayat for the past three years, where they found hardly any takers for single-use plastic.
This year, they decided to create a model to upcycle this plastic into a rope — which will have similar properties to that of a nylon rope.
V Parisutham, general manager of Hand in Hand, said that they wanted to create awareness on the ill effects of single-use plastic and prompt a behavioural change, especially after Tamil Nadu government’s ban on its use from 2019 onwards. “At the same time, we also wanted to show that this can be upcycled into a valuable product.
We started audio announcements on June 11 at various centres and announced that for every 250 grams of used plastic donated, the person would be given a token with their name, which will allow them to participate in a lucky draw where five winners will get a 1-gram gold coin,” he said.
The two-week long collection drive resulted in gathering 700 Kg plastic carry bags at special collection centres and vehicles deployed for this drive.
“We have employed 15 rope-making experts who have experience making coir ropes. Using the plastic waste (carry bags), a plastic rope for a length of 2 km is currently being made by these experts, aided by students, volunteers, panchayat officials and self-help group members.
The event is an attempt to get recognised by the Limca Book of Records for creating and holding a 2 km long plastic rope, which will be conducted in a ceremony at 4 pm on Friday (June 22),” said Parisutham. The waste management experts have also devised longterm plans to upcycle the single-use plastic into ropes.
“These bags made of plastic waste can have similar applications to that of a nylon rope and create a market for it,” added Parisutham.
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