6,772 Million Tons Of Plastic Waste Recycled In The Last 3 Years By NGO In Uttarakhand

 

The threat of climate change is far greater than one can succumb to. Heat waves, landslides, blizzards, cyclones, and droughts continue to get worse. It’s not just limited within specific countries but the negative consequences of which are seen worldwide today. And we as individual countries and nations do our part through setting goals and carrying out campaigns nationwide to curb the ways in which the environment cannot be harmed anymore.

The ‘Plastic Hackathon 2021’ campaign which was launched by Prime Minister, Narendra Modi and Union Environment Minister, Prakash Javadekar as a vision to ensure that the country becomes free of single use plastic has already been responded to and set in motion by an NGO from Uttarakhand.

The NGO has recycled 6,772 million tons on plastic waste in the last three years. "Uttarakhand is an ecologically sensitive state where plastic waste is bound to become more problematic in the coming times with increasing urbanization and tourist activities. Therefore, our efforts are focused on counteracting the future plastic waste estimates," Director of non-profit NGO Indian Pollution Control Association (IPCA) Ashish Jain said.

“Adopting an inclusive model for plastic waste management in Dehradun, we have been able to collect, segregate and recycle 6,772 MT of plastic waste in the city since 2018. Out of these 3,555 million tons of plastic waste was recycled in just one year in 2020, recording a growth of 50 per cent," he said.

Dehradun among other states contributes to a large amount of plastic waste percentage, that amounting to 327.9 tons of plastic waste per day. The figure is set to increase in the coming years to 584.051 tons per day, according to IPCA.

IPCA corroborates with urban local bodies in Dehradun, and also helps better source segregate waste by educating and capacity building of waste workers. Workers can now tell the difference between various types of plastic in turn increasing recycling efficiency. IPCA works towards various other concerns such as solid waste management, quality of air, recycling of products, and also has awareness and educational programs with them being involved in plastic waste management in over 30 states along with Union Territories in the last 20 years.

IPCA’s accomplishments amount to having collected and processed up to 52,250 million tons of plastic waste over the years. The association established in 2001, functioning with support from the Indian Institute of Technology.