Rajkot: Forty thousand and counting — this is the haul of eco bricks that is literally paving the way for environ consciousness at the Akwada lake garden in Bhavnagar. And, what is even better is the fact that the process is a citizen initiative.
In a clever move by Bhavnagar Municipal Corporation (BMC), these non-recyclable plastic waste bricks or eco bricks will take hundreds of years to get destroyed, and thus, will prevent pollution in land, water and air. The actual brain behind BMC’s innovation is Dr Tejas Doshi, a family physician by profession and brand ambassador of Bhavnagar in Swachh Bharat mission.
For the project, the civic body asked the citizens to fill PET bottles of one litre or more with all types of non-recyclable plastic wastes like wrappers of namkeens and chips, milk bags, gutkha and chocolate among many other such plastics. Paying Rs10 for every three such filled bottles or equivalent to one kilo, BMC also took their novel concept to schools with the help of teachers.
Children were lured to fill these PET bottles with plastic bags that come in their homes and earn their own pocket money from utilizing waste. Even rag pickers found it an easy way to earn some extra money.
One PET bottle contains around 350 grams of plastic waste. The civic body asked citizens to deposit such eco bricks in the civic centres of all the 13 wards. These bricks will be utilized to make tree guard, walkways, sitting benches, walking tracks, small huts, boundary wall, dustbins among other utility items at the park.
Dr Doshi said that the idea of eco bricks was floated on social media and his message on Facebook was shared 6,000 times. “The use of non recyclable plastic is huge in our day to day life and it’s dangerous.
I went to BMC officials with the idea to develop Akwada garden using these eco bricks, which are solid and can sustain for more than 300 years. We have collected 40,000 such bottles that means we could use 14 ton plastic in a developing garden,” he said.
Akwada lake was developed by Bhavnagar’s popular ruler Krishnakumarsinh on Ghogha road. The BMC developed a lakefront here which was opened for public four months ago. M A Gandhi municipal commissioner of Bhavnagar told TOI: “We are requesting people to contribute in this project for their future generation. If it’s not for the measly Rs 10, it’s a chance for the middle class or upper middle class person to contribute towards saving the environment.”