Shimla: To clean up the plastic mess in the hills, chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal on Earth Day announced a buy back scheme for waste from urban local bodies that would be recycled into material for road surfacing purposes.
Speaking at the launch of a ‘Plastic Hatao – Paryavaran Bachao’ campaign, the chief minister said that the plastic waste would be bought at Rs 3/- per Kg and an additional rupee would be given as handling charges. He added that Himachal would be the first state in Asia to start such a scheme.
Other than starting a ‘Green Journalism Award’ the chief minister said that the government had also decided to panchayats and other urban bodies for contributing towards environment and preserving ecology in their respective areas.
Financial incentives would be given to individuals also who assist in proper collection of waste plastic, he said.
He said that during the first phase of the ‘Plastic Hatao-Paryavaran Bachao’ campaign in December last year, a total of 140 tonnes of plastic waste had been collected.
On the occasion chief secretary Asha Swarup said that out of the total collection of 1200 to 1500 tonnes of solid waste 50 to 60 tonnes contained plastic waste only. She said that cement factories were being motivated to incorporate solid waste management mechanism into their plants to generate electricity out of the plastic waste for their consumptive use.
As Editor, Ravinder Makhaik leads a team of media professionals at Hill Post.
Spanning a career of over two decades in mass communication, as a Documentary Filmmaker, TV journalist, Print Media journalist and with Online & Social Media, he brings with him a vast experience. He lives in Shimla.
It is good thing Mr. Dhumal you have done.
I traveled to many places in the world and notice that the plastic waist is so great in the advance countries such as United States of America and United Kingdom. But Himachal Pradesh is the best state in the World who uses less polythene then any other in the world.
You can travel to Punjab next state and find the differences by all the ways.
Use of polythene is so unfriendly to the environmental condition that it damages every thing.
Best step in the world .
My best wishes and best regards to the people of Himachal Pradesh who have done such a great thing by stopping to use the polythene.
The God bless is with you forever.
Hats off for u sir.
Such a productive idea. I just want to know about the electricity generation using polythene.
So kindly help me.