Dehradun (The Hawk): Problem of plastic pollution can be handled with public participation said Shri Sunil Uniyal 'Gama, Hon’ble Mayor, Dehradun while speaking as Chief Guest at the CII – UCOST 13th Environment Summit held today. Shri Gama also shared initiatives taken by Dehradun municipality towards managing plastic pollution including distribution of 2 lakh cloth bags and sensitizing over 1 lac students discouraging single use plastic.
Capacity building of communities at large is required for discouraging single use plastic products and Forest Department will provide full support to all the stakeholders working in this direction said Mr Anup Malik, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (HoFF), Uttarakhand while addressing the participants. He also shared that 400 Mn tons of plastic is produced every year out of which 50% is single use plastic and only 9% is recyclable.
Prof Durgesh Pant, Director General, Uttarakhand State Council for Science and Technology (UCOST) while delivering his theme address expressed that Uttarakhand is known for its natural beauty and plastic waste has become a severe environmental problem in the state, affecting its ecology, wildlife, and human health. Being an ecologically sensitive state, plastic waste is bound to become more problematic in the coming times. He also mentioned that the Summit was 13th in the series organised by CII and UCOST with an objective of deliberating on environmental issues and concerns. M Bipen Gupta, Chairman, CII Uttarakhand in his opening remarks shared that the Climate Change is becoming a critical risk to business operations and calls for urgent collaborative action to minimize risks and build resilience. In order to provide impetus for collective action by Indian businesses, CII has launched a “Climate Action Charter”. The objective is to enable businesses to map Climate Change as a material risk across value chains and develop lasting actions to strengthen resilience, ensuring long-term competitiveness.
Delivering the concluding remarks at the Inaugural, Mr Kanish Jain, Vice Chairman CII Uttarakhand opined that awareness of the serious consequences of plastic pollution needs to be increased, and new solutions, including the increasing use of biodegradable plastics and a “zero waste” philosophy, has to be embraced by governments, industry, and the public.
The first session focussing on Plastic Waste Management was moderated by Mr Shikhar Jain, Deputy Head – CESD, CII – ITC Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Development. Key speakers of the session were Prof Kamal Kishore Pant, Director, Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee, Dr Ajay Kumar, Senior Principal Scientist & Head of Area, Waste Plastics Conversion- Process, technology, Indian Institute of Petroleum, Mr Anoop Nautiyal, Founder, SDC Foundation, Mr Rishabh Bhasin, Director Projects, Recykal and Mr Niraj Bhatia, Senior Manager, Waste Warriors Society. shared their views.
The second session deliberated on Sustainable Packaging and was moderated by Mr Rahul Singhal, Co Convenor, Membership Panel, CII Uttarakhand & Founder, Shivalik Enterprises. Speaker at the session included Mr Vipul Arora, Factory Manager – Printing & Packaging Unit, ITC Haridwar Complex, Mr Suyash Walia, Director, Kaane Packaging Pvt Ltd and Mr Pankaj Phulara, Assistant Technical Officer, Central Institute of Petrochemicals Engineering & Technology (CIPET)
As a run up to the summit this year Plastic Waste Collection Drives with college students and Poster competitions for school children were organized from 1 – 7 June on World Environment Day.75 Kgs of plastic waste was collected from Kimadi and Rispana and was handed over to Waste Warriors material recovery facility. The objective of this initiatives was to create awareness at grassroot level. Winner of the Poster making competition were also felicitated during the Summit. The summit was well attended by over 100 delegates from Industry, Institutions, Academia, NGO’s and experts in the area of Environment and was addressed by 16 experts.
