THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:
As part of World Environment Day 2018 Celebrations, the city-based Centre for Innovation in Science and Social Action (CISSA), today organized a Seminar on ‘Reducing Plastic Footprint in Campuses: The Ways Ahead’ with the support of Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment (KSCSTE). The programme, held at the University College, Thiruvananthapuram, was inaugurated by Adv.V.K.Prasanth, Mayor, Corporation of Thiruvananthapuram.
Pointing out that “it is practically impossible to completely do away with plastic”, Mayor Adv V K Prasanth said, “we can reduce or completely avoid the use of single-use plastics such plastic straws, plastic cups, plastic plates etc. Many NGOs and corporate sector players are coming forward to take up this challenge in a big way”.
He suggested that the student community can take part in this programme by avoiding the use of plastic water bottles and tiffin boxes. This can be the first step in converting the University College into a green campus, he said.
Dr.A.Bijukumar, Dean, Faculty of Science, University of Kerala stressed on the issue of ocean pollution due to plastic. Most of the plastic used in any part of the world finally pollute the environment, affecting the biodiversity and the ocean fauna. Because of the constant movement of sea water, plastic material deposited in the ocean gets converted into microplastics, which in turn enter the fish, thereby re-entering the human body.
Technical sessions were handled by Dr. R. Ajaykumar Varma, Technical Advisor to Haritha Keralam Mission, Govt of Kerala, Dr. Achuthsankar S Nair, Head, Dept of Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, University of Kerala, Dr. P. Harinarayanan, Senior Scientist and Coordinator Wetland Technical Unit & KSCAT, KSCSTE and Dr.V.V. Karunakaran, Sarabhai Institute of Science and Technology.
