From extreme air pollution levels to plastic waste plaguing the Aravallis, Gurugram has been battling environment hazards, ever since it underwent large-scale urbanisation and industrialisation. In fact, according to a document prepared by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) and Gurgaon First, if the Millenium City will turn into a ‘Living Hell’ if it continues to take nature for granted.
In a bid to battle plastic menace in the metropolitan, the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) has come up with an exchange offer you can’t afford to miss!
In what can be termed as one of the most innovative ways to make city plastic-free, MCG’s offer includes taking single-use plastics from residents, weighing it and then giving residents the food grains of the same weight.
Here’s another way to say NO to plastic! Use these POPxo cloth bags instead, for every time you step out on a shopping spree!
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The scheme encourages rag-pickers to collect as much plastic from the city as they can and then recycle it for constructive purposes. “We have exchanged 50 kg rice from an outlet situated at old MCG office located at Civil Lines on Sunday. MCG has decided to install such outlets in every locality so that rag pickers can easily approach those centres and exchange plastics with food grains,” Indrajeet Kulharia, Joint Commissioner of MCG said in an interview with a leading news agency.
The scheme includes initiatives such as that of setting up door-to-door garbage collection units which will then be segregated in recycle machines.
Why Does Gurugram Need An Anti-Plastic Plan?
One of the most densely populated cities in India, Gurugram is facing a lot of environmental hazards from alarming air pollution levels to waste mismanagement (which depletes the soil), the city needs action on an urgent basis.
A study carried out by a group of citizens in the metropolitan indicates that about 195kg of dry waste in Gurgaon was produced per day in a society of 500 households. Out Of 195kg of waste, while 30kg was plastic bags, 20kg of plastic came from packing material found on roads. Assuming there are about 5,000 households in Gurugram, about 1,950 kg plastic is produced/day on an average in Gurugram, making it about 58,500 kg/month and 7 lakh kgs annually. Now, isn’t that an alarming number?
#PlasticFree Gurugram: Other Key Initiatives
In the month of May, the MCG launched the first-ever plastic shredding centre with a capacity of over 800kg of plastic waste per hour. Besides this, multiple steps have been taken by the residents of the city who conduct frequent cleanliness drives. One such clean-up was conducted a few weeks ago where the locals collected over 200 kg of waste from the Aravalli forests near Ghata village.
Now while the steps being taken by the MCG aim at sustainable management of plastic at the macro level, the onus lies on each one of us to make informed choices in our day-to-day life.
Featured Image: Instagram
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