GVMC gears up to push for bringing down plastic use

Visakhapatnam : With plastic waste polluting the planet’s ecosystem at an alarming pace, Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) has laid its focus once again on adopting eco-friendly practices.

In order to bring down the use of plastic covers, the corporation is rolling out an effective campaign. Along with recommending eco-friendly alternatives, the GVMC intends to bring in behavioural change among people through awareness drives.

Already, special teams have been monitoring various places and booking cases against violators for using single use plastic supplies. Even as cases were booked against those sticking to plastic covers, the change, however, is not apparent. From florists to sweet vendors, tea shops to roadside eateries, there is an extensive usage of plastic supplies to carry out day-to-day activities. Earlier, G Lakshmisha, who served as GVMC commissioner, paid a larger attention to eradicating single use plastic. Apart from carrying out a series of awareness drives, the officials then also booked thousands of cases for using single use plastic.

Apparently, there was a visible change in the city. At a time when people were almost shifting to alternative supplies, the Commissioner was transferred and things came back to square one.

Later, there was not much stress on eradicating plastic except initiating ‘Eco Vizag’ focusing on five parameters, promoting eco clean, eco green, eco blue, eco zero plastic and eco zero pollution. A number of celebrities were seen extending their support to the endeavour.

With P Sampath Kumar taking charge as new GVMC commissioner, eliminating plastic use gains momentum in the city. In the coming months, the Commissioner said, efforts will be taken to make Visakhapatnam earn the top rank in ‘Swachh Survekshan’. In line no-plastic campaign, Coromandel Fertilisers is distributing 30,000 cloth bags to employees of the company and general public free of cost. The initiative was taken as part of the company’s corporate social responsibility. While 50 percent of the cost will be supported by the GVMC, the rest is borne by the company itself. The cloth bags come along with the caption ‘Swachh Survekshan 2024 - Eco Vizag’ printed over it.

The management met the new GVMC Commissioner and launched its cloth bag distribution campaign.