THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: While the State Government, local bodies and even scientists are groping in the dark about what to do with the sack-loads of plastic waste generated every minute in the state, fishermen and clam collectors in and around Muhamma have found their own answer to the problem.Not only did they get rid of the plastic, but even made a road out of it, the Muhamma-Kalyanasseri Road.Tortured year after year by the plastic that flows down the Pampa into Kuttanad after every pilgrim season and also those flushed from the houseboats, the fishermen, with technical support from Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE) and the Vembanad Nature Club embarked upon a plastic cleaning programme of the Vembanad Lake during the last Mandala season.The fishermen and clam collectors, who are members of the Lake Protection Fora in the panchayat made it a point to collect plastic as they went about their daily work. They collected plastic bottles, carry bags and other plastic waste that had settled down to the bottom of the lake. “The plastic in the lake bed had started to affect the clam population very badly.“Through the campaign, we tried to briefly quantify the extent of plastic lying in the lake bed. We thought that the Mandala season which symbolises the purity of mind and body was an ideal period to showcase the health of the ecosystem,” said Ashish Mathew George, programme officer of ATREE.The campaign was launched for the 41 days (Mandala pooja period). As many as 12 Kayal Samrakshana Samithis across Vembanad took part in the campaign.Around 40 gunny bags of plastic were collected by the fishermen, which was used to level the Muhamma-Kalyanasseri Road.“At least 150 metres of the 500-metre-road was levelled,” said panchayat president Deepa Ajith Kumar. Now, the panchayat is also looking up at options to shred the plastic so that it could be used along with bitumen to tar the roads. “We are also thinking of periodical clean-up”, she said.
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