Recently I joined the Enviro Club in my college. The first activity I participated in was Campus Cleanup programme. Our task was to break off into groups of four to six and go around the campus to collect plastic waste. So we set off to work, making our way around the campus, squinting to spot any plastic substances. Actually I was surprised by the amount of plastic in our campus!
I grabbed all the plastic bottles, cups, small and big covers, sachets etc. that I could find and put them into a basket. But I must say, it was impossible to clean everything as plastic was in every nook and corner. And I am talking about only a part of the campus. Now imagine the amount of plastic in the entire city of Chennai…the world…!
Already our city is home to the infamous Cooum which is littered with all kinds of waste. When I travel by train, I know that I am going to arrive at Guindy station just by the smell of the familiar putrid hydrogen sulphide from the Cooum between Saidapet and Guindy.
If that is one problem we have not been able to solve all these years, can we really handle another?
G. AKASH, I Year, B.Sc. Computer Science, Loyola College
