By OUR STAFF REPORTER
DEHRADUN, 9 Feb: City based environmental action and advocacy group ‘Social Development for Communities’ (SDC) Foundation has set up two more Plastic Banks in collaboration with CSIR-IIP in Doon. With the opening of these plastic banks, the city now boasts of a network of nine such banks. The new banks have come up at CNI Girls Inter College on Rajpur Road and at IndeCampus in Doonga Village.
The Plastic Bank at Rajpur Road was set up in the presence of the school Principal Vinita Martin, teachers and a large numbers of students. As many as 500 girls study in the school, which had also participated actively during the recently concluded Plastic Wapsi Abhiyan of Dehradun Smart City.
Similarly, the IndeCampus Plastic Bank was set up in the presence of its Director, Shobhit Maletha, and college going students. The plastic that is segregated and collected at the banks will be used to convert to diesel or petrol at the IIP plant in Mohkampur, Dehradun.
Anoop Nautiyal, the Founder of SDC Foundation, said that it was vital that the younger lot be exposed to the challenges of plastic waste management from their formative years. He expressed hope that with the establishment of the Plastic Banks, community awareness and involvement towards the issues of plastic waste would increase. Nautiyal also said that apart from the opening of the Plastic Banks, it was also the endeavour of SDC Foundation to promote the concepts of reduce, reuse and recycle waste. According to Nautiyal, SDC in future will also start working on establishing cycling clubs and promoting the concepts of circular economy amongst the youth.
The Principal of CNI Girls Inter College and Director of IndeCampus expressed their joy at the opening of Plastic Banks. They said that the banks would help in the correct disposal and recycling of plastic waste. Both institutions have promised to work regularly with their students on the environmental issue.