Black Sides: Waste Management: Begin at Our Home

The seminar “Waste Management: Begin at Our Home” held on 16.06.2016 was the second programme in connection with the Vicennial Celebrations of our college.

The seminar was different...

· It was organized in connection with the World Environment Day, which is celebrated in our college for the first time. It was supported by the Kerala State Council for Science Technology and Environment and DST, Govt.of India.

· This was an awareness seminar targeted at a general audience including the people from the localities of our college, in addition to students and staff in various disciplines. So the entire programme was conducted in Malayalam.

· We realize that we need to manage the waste generated in our campus before advising others. So in connection with this seminar, we have launched the Clean Campus Programme, a mission to ensure cleanliness in our campus.

· We have avoided plastic flex banners in this seminar. We displayed a manually written banner on hand woven mat. See the photo.

· We eliminated the use of decorations with plastic items, disposable plastic bottles containing drinking water and disposable tea cups in the programme. We served the tea in ceramic cups hired for the purpose.

Banner on hand woven mat

Alternatives for plastic flex and disposable cups: are they expensive?

We know preaching is easy, but practising is difficult. Hence we decided to implement at least a few messages that we tried to convey in the seminar. With the development of Materials Science & Engineering, a plethora of products/ devices/ objects are available now. Exorbitant and unnecessary use of objects is one of the root causes of excessive waste. These objects can be made up of plastics, rubbers, paper or any other material. We emphasised the importance of restricting the use of such products. Not by mere words; but by our action. We have used alternatives for certain synthetic materials used in conventional seminars.

· We avoided plastic flex banners in this seminar. We displayed a manually written banner on hand woven mat instead. This was a bit expensive. When we can get a plastic flex at approximately Rs. 350/- we needed to spend Rs. 680/- for the alternative ecofriendly banner.

· We served the tea in ceramics cups instead of disposable cups. We can purchase a disposable cup @Rs. 1/-. But hiring ceramic cups was quite expensive; @Rs. 5/- per day. Also we could not find anyone who lends ceramic cups nearby and so we had to travel about 25 km to hire cups. Of course, we needed to wash the cups before and after use.

· It is beautiful to welcome a guest with a bunch of flowers. Usually bouquet of flowers, mementos etc. are given to the speakers in seminars. But the problem is that nowadays the bouquet is wrapped in plastic films. Mementos were also avoided. Because generally no invitee bothers about the mementos afterwards and these are just abandoned in their cupboards.

It appears that the alternatives are expensive and the tasks involved are strenuous. But consider 3 facts; damage caused to the environment, cost of cleaning and the cost of restoring the environment once it is damaged. Then we realize that the environmental friendly alternatives are much cheaper. So in order to ensure a sustainable environment, we need to have a long term vision in opting the alternatives.

Topics discussed in the seminar

i. How to handle the waste generated at our homes/ shops/workplaces and how to help the Panchayat to reduce/recycle waste.

ii. Importance of separation and sorting of bio-waste and plastic waste at the source by ourselves.

iii. Utilization of the bio-waste for making biogas and compost. The manure obtained can be used for organic farming. Information about the subsidies provided by the Govt. agencies/ banks in this connection.

iv. Hygiene and waste management.

v. A complete ban of polymer products is impractical. But it is essential to control the abuse of polymers; otherwise it creates huge quantity of waste which is detrimental to the environment. So we should know the good practices in handling polymer products/ waste.

vi. All the polymers cannot be recycled. So the plastics are to be sorted and sent to appropriate recycling units.

vii. Information regarding the coding system on plastic products.

viii. Recycling of polymer waste, how to convert plastic waste into value added products and fuels.

Inauguration

Prayer: Arya Haridas, Gopika and Blessy Thomas

Mr. Jose Sebastian, Co-convener: Welcome speech

Dr. P. N. Joshi, Principal, UCET: Presidential address

Ms. Kuttiamma Michael, President, Muttom Grama Panchayat

Inauguration

Mr. C. J. Jose, Vice-President, Parent Teacher Association of UCET: Felicitations

Ms. Veena Vijayan, Executive Member compered the seminar

Ms. Lini Abraham (Executive member): Making the arrangements
Ms. Anju K. S. (Executive member)
Ms. Asha Jayaprakash(Executive member)

Talks

Dr. Geethamma V. G. (convener of the programme) delivered the talk on the use and misuse of polymer products. Her talk also focused on the importance of putting waste in separate bins.

Mr. Jose Joseph Moonjely, Executive Director, Credai, delivered a lecture on the importance of waste management and hygiene. His talk was supported by audio and video presentation.

Mr. Sojan V. M., M/s Bio Nirman, Thodupuzha, delivered a talk on the installation of Biogas Plant at houses and institutions. He also mentioned about the subsidies provided by the Government in this regard. He distributed a pamphlet to the audience in this connection.

Mr. Kannan S., Lecturer, UCE, delivered a talk on the preparation of compost from bio-waste. He made a demonstration also in this connection.