PLASTIC-FREE GOA

PLASTIC-FREE GOA

I received an email, two days after my Sunday article ‘Countering the Plague of Plastic’ was published, that began thus: "What are today's youth of Saligao doing?" 

It went on to invite me to the plastic-free drive that was going to be sponsored by the Village Panchayat, Ayurvedic Natural Health Centre (ANHC), and the Adarsh Yuvak Sangh (AYS) of Saligao village. The drive was aimed at cleaning the village of as much plastic garbage as they could in approximately four hours. The date: 26 January 2012-Republic Day! The time: 9 am. The venue: Panchayat Ghar.

And so, at 8.30 am, my family and I got into our trusty van and drove to the village that my husband grew up in. The volunteers had already assembled at Panchayat Ghar and were in high spirits, adorned with black and white T-shirts sponsored by the AYS. I was rather disappointed to see a smaller group instead of the 150-odd volunteers I was told to expect. Saligaokars either slept on their national holidays or were just too unconcerned, I thought to myself. 

The village school children were also there – for the flag-hoisting ceremony. Speeches, the national anthem and other patriotic songs over, Mr. Eknath Oraskar, (President of AYS, one of the youthful moving forces powering the clean-up) briefed the volunteers about the routes and collection points. Gloves and tags were handed out and the drive began.

For someone who has never bent down more than a few times at home every hour to pick up strewn toys and dirty clothes, I can tell you what I learnt from this valuable exercise:

1. Whoever invented packaging needs to be crucified. 

2. Kitchen waste and plastic are incompatible spouses.

3. People get curious when they see someone picking plastic but they never ask what is happening nor are they motivated to help.

Let me elaborate:

Strewn in every nook and corner were millions of tiny packets of sweets, paan masala, juices, etc. which made collection a back-breaking task. Plastic bags used to package kitchen waste could not be salvaged. Fields were filled with garbage- a sad state of affairs that makes a mockery of the life flowering there. Many people looked at us, wondering what these well-dressed people were doing picking up plastic, but not one stopped to question us or bothered to pitch in. On the contrary, when my husband stopped to speak to a man he knew from the vaddo, the latter mocked him saying we should not be lowering ourselves to do this dirty work. Boy! Has he got it wrong! The ones throwing the garbage in the first place are doing the dirty work, I would think.

By the end of three hours, Saligao had three trucks full of plastic garbage to be sent to Siolim for sorting and recycling. 

My personal hope is that this is the beginning of a clean and green Saligao. And in turn, that this will be taken up in all the villages on a war footing. Eco-education at the grassroots with effective follow-up is vital. Schools can be roped in to make the drives more effective and regular talks given to the children with practical models will help them to prevent the plague right at home where it all begins.

In my article, I had stressed on the model of a PET dustbin. This idea was liked by one volunteer who proposes to use it to teach others. The concept is simple: Keep a discarded water bottle on your kitchen counter. Fill it to capacity with plastic bits, biscuit wrappers, small cachets, etc. that cannot be reused, till it becomes firm as a brick. 6000 bottles created in this way stand tall in the walls of a schoolhouse in Guatemala, thanks to the brainwave of one woman who harnessed the power of the children of that particular village. Can we do this here in Goa, in Saligao, in Calangute, in Colva, in Curtorim, in ……? I am hoping the answer is YES!