How Can We Kickstart Our "Plastic-Free City" Project with Our Community Group?

Team, we are starting a social service/community group called "VELLORE YOUTH BRIGADE" with the help of our friends in my hometown. We have already organized some blood donation camps and conducted awareness programs in schools. Now, we are planning to launch our new project "Plastic-Free City." I know it's not easy, but we are determined to make it happen as much as we can.

I don't have any idea how to start and run this project. We have a total of 65 members in our team, and we plan to dedicate two days a week to work on this project. Please suggest and advise me on how to get started.

I hope to find the perfect solution through our citehr EHS forum.

"We do something, better we talk."

Thanks in advance.

Dear Raghu, Excellent thought. I'll surely get back to you. For now, only one suggestion i.e. "You can take help of local government authorities." Also, start motivational camps. I'll come back after working on it.

Regards, Inderjeet Singh "Born to lead"

Dear Raghu, first of all, my heartiest congratulations to you and your team for thinking of doing such noble work. "Plastic-Free City" sounds good, but achieving this goal is not easy.

From August 2010 onwards, the use of plastic has been banned in the entire state of Rajasthan. Initially, there was some resistance. Police questioned those using plastic, asked them to stop, and gave them time to replace the bags. For two or three months, in my area, all shops used paper and cloth bags instead of plastic bags. However, the same condition returned, and everywhere plastic bags were back in use.

Why do I quote the above real-life example? It's to give you my opinion openly. It's not easy, Raghu. In this example, the government tried to stop the use of plastic. There was initial enforcement, but it reduced due to many reasons: easy availability of other types of carry bags, their cost, substitutes for employment for those involved in plastic bag production, etc. Ultimately, instead of enforcing the rule more strictly, the government gave up.

I am not discouraging you. In your case, you don't have the support of the law, government, or police. You can't use enforcement methods to make your dream come true. So, here are a few ideas that come to mind for making your idea work:

1. Make people aware of the hazards of using plastics. Without awareness, nothing will change.

2. For awareness, create leaflets in the local language and distribute them frequently.

3. Organize public dramas and classes on this subject to raise awareness.

4. First, make substitutes easily available at the same cost, such as cloth or paper carry bags instead of plastic ones.

5. Encourage people to buy secondary resources and stop using plastic.

6. Perhaps you can consider producing alternative carry bags in your city by setting up a small-scale production unit. This could also provide jobs to a few people.

These are just my thoughts. You can work on this with your friends.

Thanks for the feedback. We are already conducting some programs in schools. It's a good idea to ask for help from government authorities. I hope that if we ask for help, they will be supportive. (When I explained our project to my dad over the phone, he was laughing). We will see what will happen.

Thank you.

Dear Dipil, Thanks for your open feedback. I knew we would not achieve this goal in 1 or 2 years; it will take time. At least 40% we will achieve in 3 years; it's our target. We have already spoken to shopping mall owners and a few big complex owners regarding our project. They are not ready to support us 100%, but they are all interested in our project. We are continuously tracking with them; if they agree, we will achieve our goal easily. We have also spoken to big hospitals and pharmacies (they are well aware of environmental issues) at the manager level. We are trying to get appointments at the management level. I hope at least a few of them will accept our project.

Our Plans

1) Yes, we have a plan to distribute leaflets in the local language.

2) We plan to conduct some awareness programs in schools and organize quiz programs regarding our project in schools and colleges.

3) Cloth or paper carry bags are part of our plan.

4) We plan to meet our district collector (it's not an easy task, but if he is interested or we get support from him, it will help us a lot).

I don't have an idea how to get help from the local government.

Most people don't know about environmental problems. First, we need to raise awareness among the public, especially students. The main problem is that most of our team members can't participate in all programs like me (I am overseas), but they are helping us through phone and mail (to get appointments, financially, etc.).

"Do the Given Duty and Don’t Await for Results" — Bhagavad Gita

I am doing my duty and will do so forever, Dipil!

Team, I expect more advice from our seniors.

Regards

I hope the Plastic Waste Rules of 2011 will be useful for implementation in Vellore. The same regulations have been implemented in almost all major cities in India. I am sure you will receive assistance from your municipal authorities.

Wishing you all the success.

Regards,

Congratulations on the excellent noble work. You have proven that geographical boundaries don't matter. I am fully with you. You can begin with raising awareness by displaying posters. You can also seek help from local social bodies, schools, and colleges.

Attached is a PDF file that will assist you (Source: Internet). Additionally, there is another file, an article from India Today.

Regards,
Sudhir

Dear Bhaskar, Thanks for your input on this thread and also for sharing such a wonderful document with us; it will help us a lot. Keep in touch...

Dear Sudhir, Thanks for your comment and support. You are correct, Mr. Sudhir, geographical boundaries don't matter. I want to do something for my nation; even if it helps my nation by just 0.001%, I am happy with that.

We have planned the same and will see how it will work. Thanks for your contribution to this thread. Keep in touch.

Hearty wishes and congratulations on the new project. Please convey the same to your team as well. As rightly said, it is not an easy task, and my request would be, please don't stop this task in between despite the consequences you and your team may face.

Everyone provided good ideas, and I am unable to think of much apart from that. Don't laugh, but one small idea that sparked in my mind was, once you initiate, you can approach your local TV channels and FM radio channels to at least communicate this to the people. Even though they are money-minded, if there are 65 people involved, it becomes news. In our state (I'm from Tamil Nadu), we can easily reach people through public media.

Also, if possible, start preparing paper bags made of waste papers and try to distribute them to people in the markets, as this will have some sort of impact.

Thank you for the documents provided.

Regards,

The Growing Problem of Waste Management

Humans are producing more garbage than the Earth can handle. Waste has become increasingly difficult to decompose. Before throwing anything away, think about how it can be reused.

Even though we have many alternative eco-friendly products within our reach, we waste millions worth of Indian treasure just to import polythene raw materials. Our environment is responsible and acts as a magical force by gifting us high-quality natural resources like air, water, forests, soil, breeze, sunshine, etc.

Let's gift quality natural resources to our future generations by using eco-friendly products that keep the environment safe.

The Convenience Trap

Our society has dangerously embraced the habit of buying products for "convenience." Just for convenience, we regularly use polythene products that spoil our nature and promote bacterial and cancer-related deadly diseases that attack our health.

Many polythene promotional organizations mislead us with slogans like "use plastic & save trees." The real fact is that the percentage of trees we cut for paper making is 20 times less than the trees planted by our magical environment and many eco-friendly organizations. However, 80% of our papers are made of recycled materials.

Realize the facts and do not harm the environment by using polythene products just for our convenience.

Benefits of Recycling

When we recycle and reuse manufactured materials that already exist, we greatly reduce the strain placed upon our forests and natural resources by raising the demand for creating new raw materials. The recycling process saves electricity, money, water, natural resources, and landfill areas. It also provides many jobs and reduces water, air, and soil pollution.

Any paper labeled with the 3 chasing arrows symbol will definitely have 100% recycled content and be eco-friendly if recycled in a fair and sensible collection system.

Making Intelligent Environmental Choices

Always make intelligent environmental choices before you purchase products. Make an effort to purchase products in recyclable packaging and reusable containers. Use glass or steel containers instead of plastic at home. (Though glass and steel have long decomposition periods, they can be reused multiple times.)

Avoid buying products that are plastic, disposable, potentially toxic, excessively packaged, or wrapped. Plastics and polythene make up 70% of our garbage. 80% of our solid waste ends up being dumped in our local landfill areas. Disposable plastic products and polythene carry bags create major environmental loss by promoting pollution, toxic gases, and bacterial infections that cause cancer and other deadly diseases.

Let's make a change by raising the demand for recycled paper products. Pay the extra price when necessary and purchase recycled paper products to support the industries offering them to you.

When you consider our environment and our health, no effort is too large and no price is too high.

Regards

As you said, right... Frankly, I will say one thing: we are doing the Plastic-free City project in our city. Do you know what happened last time to us? We had issued leaflets (do not use plastic, etc.) at traffic signals. Most of the EDUCATED people do not even read those leaflets; they throw them on the road in front of us. They may look EDUCATED, but truly they ARE...?

However, I am proud of this. See the link; it also happened in INDIA.

Kanyakumari: The Plastic Bag Free District in India

http://ecowalkthetalk.com <link updated to site home> <link outdated-removed> (Search On Cite | Search On Google)

I respect your worries, bro. Keep on sharing, Mr. Rajesh.

The links you provided contain motivating news for you and your project to make your city plastic-free. All the best.

All the very best for your project. At the beginning, you can start a campaign by joining some public service organizations like the Rotary Club and Lions Club.

Regards,
Vijay

Thanks, Mr. Dipil. Sure, we will make it happen one day. I will post the same kind of link which will mention that our city is announced as a PLASTIC-FREE CITY.

First of all, thanks for the wishes. We have a lot of ideas; the main problem is we can't work on our project 24/7 as long as any of our team members, more than 10 members, take leave or go on vacation at the same time. This affects our ability to schedule programs and meetings, etc., because all of them work in different sectors. However, we are determined to make it happen.

Thanks for your new idea, dude. I will share it with my team members. Keep in touch.