Paper pens are a popular weapon in the campaign against plastics. Now, paper pens made by students of 23 Buds schools under the Kannur district mission of the Kudumbashree have become mandatory for the staff at the Kannur Collectorate and Civil Station.
Kannur Collector Subhash T.V. has made the pens compulsory to check the pollution caused by dumping of used plastic pens at the Collectorate complex.
Last year, the Kannur district mission of the Kudumbashree had launched an initiative called Bless (Buds livelihood enhancement and social security) to provide training in soft skills to students of Buds special schools started by the Kudumbashree for differently abled children to equip them to earn a livelihood.
The students have been manufacturing paper pens as part of Bless since then. The pens are marketed by the district mission. In the past year, the mission has sold 60,000 pens across the State. Its clientele includes the Kerala Institute of Local Administration, the police, and the Kudumbashree’s vast network itself, Surjith M., Kannur district mission coordinator, said.
The previous Kannur Collector Mir Mohammed Ali used these pens for official work in his cabin. When the incumbent Collector Subhash T.V. assumed charge, he scaled up the initiative, deciding that all Collectorate and Civil Station staff will use these pens in a bid to curb the plastic menace from August 1.
Green nano market
Not only that, he also allowed the district mission a kiosk on the Collectorate premises where pens and other products made of alternatives to plastics were available for visitors. The green nano market stocks paper pens, cloth bags, cloth footwear, pen stands made from waste paper, paper files, and so on.