‘Plants for Plastic’ Campaign Kicks Off in Assam’s Bongaigaon

Bongaigaon October 2, 2019:

The Bongaigaon District Administration has launched a unique and innovative ‘Plants for Plastic’ campaign, in order to remove the usage of single-use plastic.

‘Plants for Plastic’ campaign was launched on Tuesday to encourage people to collect and remove plastic from their houses, commercial establishments, and educational institutions. Citizens participated in the event by bringing in plastics from their homes and depositing in a Plastic Bank which was inaugurated in the event. The Bongaigaon District Administration, in return, gave away a free sapling and a cloth bag in exchange for 1-kilos of plastic.

The event started with a rally to spread the message to discard plastic and raise awareness about the plastic bank. It was flagged off by Bongaigaon Deputy Commissioner Adil Khan. The Bongaigaon Chairman Municipality, Dipu Choudhury and State Solid Waste Management Consultant Dr. Pradip Baishya joined the Deputy Commissioner in leading the rally.

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Several organizations such as Robin Hood Army, Marwari Yuva Manch, Bongaigaon Lower Assam Hospital, and other Self Help groups participated in the rally.

Throughout the rally, Bongaigaon DC, Adil Khan, IAS, stopped in certain key locations of the town and spoke with several vendors and shopkeepers requesting them to immediately stop using or selling banned plastic.

The rally was followed by the inauguration of the plastic bank in which a very informative speech was given by State Solid Waste Management Consultant, Dr. Pradip Baishya. He stressed on the harmful effects of plastic usage, on the need for individual awareness and a comprehensive waste collection, segregation and waste management system.

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The Municipality Chairman also gave his call to all the people present in the rally to use the opportunity and discard plastic in the newly inaugurated plastic bank and start using cloth bags.

Bongaigaon DC Adil Khan, who conceptualized the unique idea of ‘Plants for Plastic’ for a clean and pollution-free society, called on everyone to discard all single-use plastic. He encouraged the citizens to move towards the goal of ‘clean and green Bongaigaon’ and ‘pollution-free plastic-free Bongaigaon’.

A permanent Plastic bank that will be open on all days for deposition of plastic was then inaugurated. The event also saw another very innovative step from the District Forest Officials, who replaced the black polythene wrapped saplings with banana tree barks. The officials mentioned that it is a unique and sustainable initiative that would send out a strong message on a total ban on the usage of plastic.

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The ‘Plants for Plastic’ event is a part of a series of awareness campaigns on solid and plastic waste management. The administration, in coordination with Municipality and Public Health Engineering as well as members of Panchayat, also plans to organize other events for village and block level to make the district free of plastics.

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