Steena Das By Express News Service THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Cleaning up public areas in the city in the aftermath of an event or celebration is a mammoth task for the municipality. Interestingly, this year’s Onam celebrations at Kanakakkunnu Palace saw a substantial reduction in littering as compared to the previous years with 80 per cent of garbage being deposited in the bins by visitors themselves. Thanks to ‘Plastic Arrest’, an initiative by the Green Army, the campaign wing of Thiruvananthapuram corporation’s ‘My City Beautiful City’ project. “Although Plastic Arrest was started a year ago, this year was a huge success. We had to clear huge piles of garbage in the initial days of Onam from Kanakakkunnu Palace. But after the implementation of the protocol, there was a tremendous reduction in littering,” said Thomas Varghese, Green Army coordinator. Items such as single-use water bottles and food wrappers were attached with a sticker, priced Rs 10 by the Green Army volunteers at four counters on the Kanakakkunnu Palace premises. The price of the sticker will be refunded to the customer when they dispose the used item off at designated places. A total of 40 volunteers were deployed on the Kanakakkunnu Palace premises alone. “To reduce the amount of non-biodegradable waste, we attached a sticker on the water bottles being sold,” said Ashin Mohan, co-founder, Green Army. “Garbage bins that mostly remain empty were getting filled in record time,” he said. According to the volunteers, people were eager to deposit waste in garbage bins to get their refund. “Most parents encouraged their children to follow the practice of using dustbins,” said Ashin. As many as 100 volunteers of the Green Army were stationed at major Onam celebration venues organised by the Tourism Department including Kanakakkunnu Palace, Poojapura ground, Central stadium, Greenfield stadium and Shanghumugham beach. “The initiative was a huge success in all the venues except Shanghumugham, as it is an open spot,” said Thomas. Following the success of Plastic Arrest, the corporation in association with Green Army plans to continue the initiative for all events under its purview.

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