Sanitation drive themed against plastic launched

[caption id="attachment_271932" align="aligncenter" width="500"] Thangi Manen addresses a programme, the launch of a sanitation campaign, on Monday in the conference hall of the deputy commissioner’s office in Dimapur.[/caption] Eastern Mirror Desk Dimapur, Sep. 16: A sanitation campaign “Swachhata Hi Seva” or ‘cleanliness is service’ was launched by Thangi Manen, convenor of the Zero Waste Himalaya Nagaland, on Monday with theme “plastic waste Shramdaan.” “Don’t use plastic anymore,” said Manen at the event. The former bureaucrat was addressing a host of government officers, GB, chairmen of wards and colonies, besides members of nongovernmental organisations and others in the conference hall of the deputy commissioner’s office in Dimapur. Manen cautioned the gathering about the dangers of single-use plastic and its impact on human health. She expressed concern at the increase in environmental hazards and Climate Change that is being aggravated because of plastic use. She urged the people to ponder on the issue. The ‘cleanliness is service’ campaign is the beginning of a process to achieve India’s commitment to eliminating all single-use plastic in the country by 2022, she said. The campaign is a mass movement to arrest the use of plastic. She urged the people to give their cooperation to the event. Manen also highlighted the schedule of the campaign: the first phase from September 11 to October 1 will be a period for awareness generation while the second phase on October 2 will be mass community work. The third phase, during October 3-27, will be marked by collection, segregation and transportation for recycling and disposal, which will require the participation of all government departments, community groups, institutions and individuals. She urged the people to follow the waste management principle, “My waste my responsibility.”