How do you snip the milk packet? Three Class VIII students from Padma Seshadri Bala Bhavan School, T Nagar are offering answers to question and many others in an attempt to encourage responsible disposal of milk packets.
The initiative was started recently by three friends – Akshath Rao, Keshav Krishna and Shreehari K, who call themselves Eco-Trio – as part of The Climator League, an event that requires participants to come up with solutions for existing environmental hazards.
The three had learnt in the classroom that seemingly innocuous and simple acts can have a hugely detrimental effect on solid waste management in the city and they came up with this idea after seeing many people around them cut the corners of milk packets the wrong way.
“Do not cut off its corners and add to the burden of recycling these miniscule pieces,” say the trio.
Even if one were to cut the packet, do it horizontally and in a transverse position. The milk packets should then be washed, dried and kept separately to be sent for recycling.
To educate residents, the three are taking up door-to-door campaigns in their respective streets in T Nagar with their parents also joining them.
During weekends, each of them makes it a point to cover 15 houses each where they distribute pamphlets informing residents on the do’s and dont’s of handling milk packets. They have also taken the campaign to Semmozhi Poonga and Pondy Bazaar where they draw the attention of the visitors and shoppers with their colourfully designed posters.
The milk vendors are also their allies in this campaign.
We have also designed boxes that come with instructions on how to dispose of the milk packets, they say. The boxes are placed at shops, houses and apartment complexes where it will be collected to be sent to Himani Datar in Anna Nagar who will be sending them for recycling.
Although it is early days for the campaign, the friends are happy with the response they been getting. At Raman Street in T Nagar, when we were campaigning, an association member took our details and agreed to circulate it among the residents, says Kesav. That makes the job of this teenagers easy.
How do they plan to continue with the initiative between exams and amidst the academic pressure? Nitya Vivek, mother of one of the students, says the parents will take it forward and they hope to build an army of volunteers who would be the the points of contact for collect milk covers.
Residents who would like to take the campaign to their area/society can write to ecotrio241@gmail.com
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