By Our Staff Reporter
Dehradun, 13 Oct: Rural Litigation and Entitlement Kendra (RLEK) organised an environment awareness campaign in the DL Road ward, today, with the support of CUTS International, Jaipur.
There were 10 participants. Ritu Thapa, Vaishali, Gurpreet Kaur were among the members who took part in the campaign. The participants were encouraged to reduce waste, inculcate a culture of community sharing (electric waste, old utensils and books), waste management, using less plastic packaging material, making compost out of kitchen waste, etc.
The volunteers from RLEK Avdhesh Sharma, Rekha Pundir, Pushpa Bisht and Akanksha led the campaign. Avdhesh Sharma gave an introduction of the campaign to the participants. Participants were encouraged to share their old books, utensils, clothes, electronics, etc., with their neighbours and others who needed them as this would reduce the burden on the natural resources. Rekha Pundir explained to the participants about Solid Waste Management, e–waste management and its importance. Pushpa Bisht encouraged participants to reduce single use plastic and told them how plastic was wreaking havoc on the planet. Akanksha Choudhary told participants how they could use their kitchen waste to make compost for their plants. They were encouraged to undertake kitchen gardening. Participants were also taught the method of making herbal sanitiser. They were shown a movie on the above mentioned topics so that they could understand the concept in a better way.
Amar Deep Singh, Senior Programme officer, CUTS International, also joined the campaign via video call and explained to participants the benefits of sharing on the environment. He explained how community sharing and responsible production and consumption would help reduce the burden on the natural resources.
Post lunch, a camp was organised to create Neki ki Deewar (Wall of charity/kindness) where the target group came together with their old/un-used electronic items, utensils and books. The participants shared their commodities at the camps with each other thus enabling a culture of community sharing. This sharing culture reduces the pressure on natural resources and thereby is a little step to protecting the environment.
The campaign was organised following the COVID 19 guidelines. Masks and sanitisers were distributed amongst the participants and the social distancing was maintained.