SHILLONG, May 8: On May 4 last the students of 6th semester, Media Technologies Department, St. Anthony’s College organised a series of events to create public awareness and bring about social and behavioural change with focus on the menace of single-use plastic bottles by students on campus.
The events included a flash mob and skit, slogan and signature campaign, photo booth, a talk by Bankitlang Nongbri, founder of indigenous startup Eco-Ri and a panel discussion on the theme: Single Use Plastic: An Absolute Monstrosity. The panelists included well known environmentalist and columnist Dr HH Mohrmen, Carmo Noronha, Executive Director, Bethany Society, Jiwat Vaswani, CEO, Jiva groups of companies and a champion for a cleaner Shillong and Dr Reema Diengdoh, Assistant Professor, Department of Botany, Shillong College.
Recognising that single-use plastics which include plastic bottles are the main cause of plastic pollution worldwide and that while they are cheap and easy to dispose they are an environmental hazard, the students took it upon themselves to bring about a revolution and make the campus plastic-bottle free.
The students had done extensive homework and found that in a recent study, 368 million tons of plastic is produced every year around the world. This jerked their conscience and they decided to focus on the menace of single-use plastic bottles in the campus and particularly among the students of St. Anthony’s College or SAC.
According to the research conducted by the 6th semester Media Technologies students, among Anthonians, close to 57% students from the college purchase single-use plastic water bottles on a daily basis. In just one week, i.e., from 24th to 31st March 2022, approximately 1,500 single-use plastic water bottles were found in the college’s trash bins. The figure was mind boggling if it were multiplied by a month, a year etc.
Interestingly the college had, since 2014, installed reverse osmoses pure drinking water stations at several places around the campus. But the majority of the students was not aware of these water filling stations or did not care much about it as long as they had an easy option – the Rs 10 plastic water bottle.
The core agenda of “SAC Against SUP Bottles” is to recommend a total ban on the sale and use of SUP bottles in the campus; upgrade RO water stations across all areas of the campus; raise awareness and consciousness against single-use plastic bottles and encourage the adoption of sustainable and healthy habits such as carrying a personal bottle and using the RO water facilities set up across the college.
Students of the Mass Media department were enrolled as volunteers to mobilise a force for the various activities planned as a part of the campaign.
Before the May 4 campaign the class held an online campaign for a whole week over social media handles on Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp. Videos were posted raising awareness against SUP bottles and promoting the idea of using RO water facilities were posted. Testimonies from the faculty and students of St. Anthony’s College went a long way in providing our campaign with sufficient ammunition. Also, the campaign’s social media handles were used to post details of the various events held on the day.
The panel discussion on the theme: “Single Use Plastic Water Bottles – An Absolute Monstrosity was moderated by Sanbeer Singh Ranhotra, a 6th semester student of Media Technologies Department. Prior to the panel discussion, Bankitlang Nongbri delivered a talk titled, “Waste to Grace”, in which he narrated his own experiences and the journey of Eco-Ri so far.
The chief guest of the event was Fr. Paul Olphindro Lyngkot, Provincial and the head of the governing body of SAC.
The panelists all spoke of the ill-effects of single-use plastic bottles. The panel looked at the vastness of the problem facing humankind today and how communities can be engaged to make this project a larger people-driven campaign.
The panel provided achievable solutions to the plastic menace, while also reminding the audience of the harmful effects of plastic to not just the environment, but humans as well. The solution is not immediate, and the path to eliminating plastic is anything but easy. Dangers posed to Meghalaya’s tourism sector and natural landscape were discussed as well. Jiwat Vaswani said, “I will now work towards reducing the use of such plastic water bottles and try to ultimately do away with them. We had tried providing filtered water in glasses until the pandemic hit us and then it was back to water bottles. Now we must get back to providing drinking water in glasses.”
The discussion was followed by a brief Q&A session. Following the panel discussion, an employee of SAC, who cleans the college campus and deals with the waste generated every day, Surjeet Singh was felicitated.
The campaign of the 6th Semester students is aimed at creating mass awareness of the risks posed to the planet by such bottles. They suggest that the best alternative is for each student to carry his/her own water bottles from home.
They hope the campaign will gain momentum and become a state-wide movement in the near future if other educational institutions of Meghalaya decide to ban single-use plastic bottles from their campuses.
