The Central government has waged a war on single-use plastic and while a nationwide ban is speculated to be enforced from October 2, the Karimnagar Commissionerate of Police have already set an example by banning plastic in their headquarters and police stations in the district.
All the 21 police stations in Karimnagar district have been declared ‘plastic-free’ with a complete ban on single-use plastic articles such as tea cups, carry bags, water bottles, plates etc.
The police stations have switched to steel, aluminium and brass water bottles and also those made of clay. Even plastic dustbins have been replaced with steel bins.
Awareness campaign
The police have also launched a campaign to educate citizens about the environmental hazards of single-use plastic articles by putting up big banners made of cloth, instead of the polluting vinyl posters, in the police headquarters and police stations, and are also organising cultural programmes to generate awareness.
Village adopted
Further, they have adopted Katnapalli village in Choppadandi mandal, distributing cloth bags to all the villagers, participating in the shramdaan of cleaning of the village and planting over 1,000 saplings in the village. They are also planting saplings in every available inch of the police station premises and Commissionerate Training Centre (CTC) in the district. At the CTC, the police have adopted Miyawaki, a Japanese technology of planting saplings for creation of mini-forests.
Speaking to The Hindu here on Sunday, Commissioner of Police V.B. Kamalasan Reddy said all police stations in the district and police headquarters have completely banned single-use plastic materials.
“We are also educating police families to avoid plastic and use eco-friendly alternatives. We cannot bring the change overnight, but we will campaign till people completely abandon plastic in the district,” he maintained.
Mr. Reddy added that the people visiting the police headquarters were also being sensitised about the importance of using only cloth bags through pamphlets.