The story of Bapu and his missing blue pencil at Sabarmati Ashram are often retold to drive home the message of conservation. When the Ashram residents found it at last, the pencil turned out to be really small but Gandhiji insisted on using it to the full.
The throwaway culture of present-day society has ensured that we no longer have an emotional connect to a pen or pencil. The pen was a symbol of learning to the generations of yore. Now a pen is just another item of plastic waste. When the Haritha Keralam Mission of Idukki started collecting used pens from educational institutions, offices, and individuals, it never thought that a truckload of used pens would be the result. They would be sent for recycling soon.
“There was immense response from schools,” says G.S. Madhu, district coordinator, Haritha Keralam Mission. He said the idea came from the mission unit in Kasaragod. “A used pen was always thrown away as it was too small to be considered plastic waste,” he said.
Hazardous waste
An item of plastic waste, even if small, could affect public hygiene and safety when the narrow path of a stream is blocked by it. He said that one of the reasons the floodwaters reached public places was the blocking of natural water flow by plastic waste. It also released harmful toxins to the soil and water, he said.
He said that waste was no more waste if collected in time and recycled.
In a few days, more used pens would reach the Haritha Keralam Mission and they would be sent to the Clean Kerala Company. Mr. Madhu said the message to the students, who were the driving force behind the collection of used pens, was that ‘segregated waste is more valuable than assimilated ones.’
