Waste not, litter not: Thane youths make tunnel with 18,000 plastic bottles

All those who provided more than 2kg of plastic received gifts — stones with awareness messages painted on them by youngsters.

A two-day exhibition of donated plastic waste and stone painting began at Kala Bhavan on Saturday. The event, titled ‘Ek se Anek’ (One to Many), saw youngsters join hands to prepare a tunnel made of 18,000 plastic bottles.

Stone paintings with awareness messages painted on them were given out as gifts at the exhibition. (praful gangurde/HT)

Entry fee to the exhibition was domestic plastic waste.

All those who provided more than 2kg of plastic received gifts — stones with awareness messages painted on them by youngsters. The stones were painted in a workshop a week ago. The workshop at aimed at on proper disposal of segregated plastic waste and promotion of cleanliness in the city.

Vessacindia along with the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) and University of Mumbai collaborated for Saturday’s event to ensure public participation and awareness of plastic, plastic waste and its disposal.

Vijaykumar Katti, social worker and organiser of ‘Ek se Anek,’ said freedom fighter Lokmanya Tilak had inspired the event.

“Tilak wanted to make use of sarvajanik festivals to spread the word about various social messages. Taking inspiration from him, we started the initiative during the Ganeshotsav period. For two consecutive weekends, we have involved youngsters to spread the message about plastic and how it should be used. There is nothing that is a waste in the planet, we urged students to paint stones and converted it into a gift. Similarly, plastic should be reused or recycled wisely,” he said.

Harsh Duggal, 23, a visitor at the exhibition, said he liked the experience. “It was a wonderful experience to help in making the tunnel.

“We made use of the caps of bottles to prepare an art work which is in progress. We usually dispose the bottles. However, such initiatives will help reduce waste,” he said.