Mayor M. Anilkumar has called for concerted efforts by the scientific world and companies for developing alternatives to plastic.
He was speaking after launching the ‘Plastic-less Kochi’ campaign as part of the Heal Kochi project at Subhash Bose Park here on Friday. Mr. Anilkumar said legislation alone was not enough to make Kochi plastic-free.
Three projects have been envisaged as part of the campaign. The inauguration of the project for distribution of steel water bottles to 500 students was done by BPCL executive director Ajith Kumar. Dry waster collection boxes for paper and plastic waste will be placed at five major points in the city. Awareness programmes will also be held as part of a hygiene and sanitisation campaign.
A water purification project at Subhash Bose Park set up with the aid of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited was also launched. A borewell is now being relied on to meet the water demands of the park. However, it posed challenges to flora and fauna in the park owing to high presence of iron in the water and that of salt during summer. The issue is being resolved often by supplying water using tankers. The water purification project will have capacity to treat around 70,000 litres of water a day. A drinking water source for the public will also be provided.
Arvind Nath Jha, Deputy Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, distributed raincoats to employees of the park.
