A concerted effort is on to enforce the ban on use of plastics in wedding halls. Coimbatore corporation imposed the ban in October and enforced segregation of waste in the halls.
A group of 'Swachh Bharat' ambassadors and volunteers of the 'No dumping' NGO have got together to ensure that plastic waste generation at weddings and parties is minimal. P Roopa, one of the volunteers, said, "Catering associations and hotel owners were called for various meetings to ensure they segregated waste and reduced plastic usage. As part of No Dumping, we decided to help them and have so far taken part in three weddings and one birthday party," she said.
As per their survey, in a normal wedding, plastic bottles alone amount to one tonne of waste which can be easily avoided if reusable tumblers are used. "Apart from steel tumblers, we have also come up with a new concept of reusable plastic tumblers that can be used 20-40 times if cleaned properly. It is cleaned with a sponge then run through water and blow dried," said R Raveendran, secretary of Resident Awareness Association of Coimbatore.
Corporation officials said that as per the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2017, the waste generator should be responsible for its disposal and bulk generators should ensure that they segregate it and set up a composting site at the location.
Roopa said they have been called to reduce plastic usage in another birthday party coming up on December 8. "We cannot call it a zero waste wedding as milk packets, masala packets and other recyclable waste is generated. But we train the workers in such a way that at least 1,000kg of plastic waste does not reach the corporation dump yard. This way, we generated only 1,100kg of compostable waste and 100kg of recyclable waste, which include tissues and paper laid on the dining table," said Roopa.
Corporation commissioner, K Vijayakarthikeyan said they had implemented this and it was nothing new. "It is a known fact that we should avoid plastics. This is one way of showing the public how we can reduce plastic waste and we hope people follow this," he said.
Vishwanath, a caterer, has lent his support and ensures that in every wedding he offers his services, plastic waste is avoided. Other caterers have also put their foot down to stop plastic bottles and other Styrofoam plates and cups that cannot be recycled.
Other caterers too joined the club, said Roopa. "After we did this exercise in a wedding hall in R S Puram, the other caterers who got their contract for that hall also implemented it thinking those were the rules imposed by the wedding hall owners. That is when we understood that willingness to follow these simple steps to avoid plastic is there among the people and it just needs some guidance," said Raveendran.Read more at:bridesmaid dresses brisbane | bridesmaid dresses perth
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