Noida to provide eco planters to reduce plastic waste

NOIDA: Noida authority will remove all plastic planters and packaging from its sectors 8, 34 and 39 nurseries and in its place, they will provide eco-friendly planters made from cow dung sourced from Nangli Wazidpur and sector 94 gaushalas. The planters will be made with yellow mud, leaves, cow dung, baruda and bonded through guar gum powder and using solar heat by authority’s horticulture department. Work on the planters will begin from Friday with a capacity of 30 pots per hour.
The authority aims' behind this project are to reduce plastic junk in favour of organic, eco-friendly pots for gardens, parks and nurseries.
"On the instructions of CEO Alok Tandon, we have recently initiated some steps for the protection of environment in order to make Noida a self-sustainable city. From restoring rain water harvesting pits to recharge depleting ground water levels, restoring wetlands, recycling horticulture waste and making organic composts, this eco planter step is a further part of the larger goal conceived by the authority. Under this we will remove all plastic packaging from our nurseries located across the city starting with ones at sectors 8, 34 and 39 and replace them with planters made from cow dung," said general manager of the Noida Authority, Rajeev Tyagi.
"The pots will be sold to willing citizens from our nurseries at a nominal charge of Rs 30 per pot to recover the making cost of these planters," said Tyagi.
"The cow dung planters will not only substitutes plastic but also provide fertilization to the plants during the growth cycle as well as provide a solution to the massive cow dung that’s being generated at these gaushalas," he said.
"We have also roped in social activist Rama Tyagi who runs an NGO to guide and train the staff of horticulture department in the exercise at no charge," said Tyagi.
Further, he added the process of making these pots would begin from Friday (May 17) where 30 pots per hour would be made at these nurseries from a basic machine which was installed at a cost of Rs 20,000.