In a continued demonstration of its commitment to the ideal of being plastic free, Mopungchuket village under Mokokchung district participated in The Himalayan Cleanup 2022 on Saturday, May 28. About 100 volunteers turned up for the event that was held under the initiative of The Greensight Project.

 

The volunteers cleaned the streets of the village as well as two prominent landmarks in the village, Süngkotenem Park and Mangkolong picnic spot.

 

The activities of the day involved collection of wastes, their segregation, and auditing. A total of 214 kgs of waste were collected, out of which 125 kgs were plastics including PET bottles, multi layered plastics, straws and other household plastic wastes.

 

The non-plastic items, which comprised of the remaining 89kgs were mostly paper and metal wastes. Of the total of 214 kgs of waste collected, 115kgs of recyclable wastes were recovered, including both plastics and non-plastic waste, and stored at the resource center.

 

Volunteers engaged in waste segregation and brand auditing on Saturday at Süngkotenem Park, Mopungchuket as part of The Himalayan Cleanup 2022. (Photo: The Greensight Project)

To reinforce their commitment, the volunteers also reiterated their pledge to be ambassadors of the plastic-free and zero waste campaign. It may be mentioned that the village has been participating in The Himalayan Cleanup since its first edition in 2018.

 

The Himalayan Cleanup is a joint initiative of Zero Waste Himalaya and Integrated Mountain Initiative since 2018. The initiative is supported by European Outdoor Conservation Association, WWF- India and Break Free From Plastic.

 

The Himalayan Cleanup was confined to home clean-ups during 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID pandemic. THC is being conducted this year across all the mountain states in the Indian Himalayan Region and Nepal.

 

The Himalayan Cleanup 2022 has 250+ registrations from across the Himalayan States such as Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tripura, West Bengal and Kathmandu. 50+ are registered as organizations and schools and the rest are registered as individuals.

 

Data from across the Himalayas will be consolidated and analyzed through uniform protocols to determine volumes and types of waste collected as well as a brand audit to reveal who are the top polluters of the mountains. Results will be shared at national and international platforms to strengthen concerted action against plastic pollution. The Brand Audit shall be aligned to the global brand audit of Break Free from Plastics.

 

 

Mokokchung Times News

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