Tots lend environment a hand

The whole world is slowly and steadily adapting to sustainable living, a lifestyle promoting not only conscious efforts to save natural resources, but also to encourag and recycle. 

And while we have societies and organisations going plastic free, there are tiny tots who have embarked on this noble journey.

For one, Borivali-based JBCN

International School has banned plastic from the campus and has also initiated various eco-friendly measures, such as composting, segregation and recycling waste generated in the school.

A visitor given the paper bag in exchange of plastic

“Our group schools have adopted a plastic-free approach on our campuses, and we are in the process of phasing out the use of plastic and adopting the use of more sustainable materials,” says Pinky Dalal, chairperson, and founder of the school.

 Anything plastic — be it a pen, tiffin boxe or water bottles — have all have been substituted with metal and steel. Along with the students, even the teachers have shifted to using only fountain pens and wooden pencils instead of plastic.

“We are generating awareness among our students and parents to take concrete steps to keep a plastic free campus,” says Pinky.

Moving forward, the school has replaced cornstarch plastic garbage bags with the regular ones. Not only this, the school authorities have also kept cloth bags at the entrance and offer these to anyone who walks into the premises carrying plastic.

The authorities have also included cloth material to use for banners, instead of flex, which is a fabric coated with plastic. They have also introduced burlap – a rough textured cloth woven from jute or hemp, transforming completely to a healthy environment.

And the school doesn’t just stop here. To imbibe and make the understanding of a clean and greener environment for students, they have involved students in making pencils and pens from newspapers, which they also use.

On the premises, Aerobic Bio Composters are installed. Children are involved in collecting wet waste from the school’s kitchen and are taught the process of converting the waste into something useful.

The process involves putting the wet waste, which is a type of organic waste decomposed into humus. The latter is an organic component for the soil formed by decomposition of leaves and other plant material. The composter maintains the aerobic condition for composting of garden and kitchen wet waste, which is an easy and reliable source of quality compost for garden consumption.

The school will move on to getting the administrative staff to use these newspaper pens after the students and teachers, before working on the society at large.

Praising the state for banning plastic in Maharashtra, Pinky says, “I believe the ban by the government is a move in the right direction as it can have an impact on a monumental scale.”

The school is now conducting collection drives for E-waste and plastic waste in order to help the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). All collected waste will be given to the BMC’s recycling department throughout the year.