Kerala Youngsters Recycle 20,000 Plastic Bottles, Turn It Into 90-Foot-Long Snake

Thiruvananthapuram: A 90-foot-long snake-like installation made out of 20,000 plastic bottles by a team of imaginative young minds is one of the major attractions drawing curious crowds at the main venue of the Onam Week celebrations by Kerala Tourism in the state capital. Made for Kerala government’s Suchitwa Mission focused on sanitation, the installation depicts the massive plastic snake about to swallow the Globe — in a clear message about the threat to the Earth from the uncontrolled use of plastic.

Eleven students of the College of Fine Arts here took four days to put together the predominantly white-and-green work alongside the tree-lined pathway on the sprawling grounds of the Kanakakunnu Palace here.

Erected with the intention of creating awareness among the public about the accumulating plastic waste choking up the planet, the installation got its inputs from plastic-bottles passengers used and left at Thiruvananthapuram Central railway station during the past few days, Suchitwa Mission said in a release.

Also Read: Haryana Man On Mission To Clean Up Litter From Himalayas 

Suchitwa Mission is the technical support group in the waste-management sector under the state’s Local Self Government Department. The release said,

The 90-foot-long figure, with its slithering looks eventually leading upward to a flared ‘hood’ menacingly eager to swallow a sphere that represents the globe, has been completed by a collective named Trivandrum Young Artist Group.

State Tourism Minister P A Mohamed Riyas appreciated the artists and the Suchitwa Mission team, praising the installation. The minister said,

This carries a very beautiful message too.

The Thiruvananthapuram Municipal Corporation, in a bid to enforce green protocol guidelines at various venues of the celebrations, has posted a 200-member battalion of ‘Green Army’ at Kanakakkunnu.

The Suchitwa Mission made an appeal to the public at Kanakakunnu and other venues to cooperate with the Green Army and avoid single-use plastics at the site and also desist from littering the venue.

The mission is responsible for conceptualising and action-planning besides conducting workshops and training programmes in the waste-management sector of Kerala.

Also Read: Environmentalist In Jammu Creates Vertical Gardens Using Plastic Bottles

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

NDTV – Dettol have been working towards a clean and healthy India since 2014 via the Banega Swachh India initiative, which is helmed by Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan. The campaign aims to highlight the inter-dependency of humans and the environment, and of humans on one another with the focus on One Health, One Planet, One Future – Leaving No One Behind. It stresses on the need to take care of, and consider, everyone’s health in India – especially vulnerable communities – theLGBTQ population,indigenous people, India’s different tribes, ethnic and linguistic minorities, people with disabilities, migrants, geographically remote populations, gender and sexual minorities. In wake of the currentCOVID-19 pandemic, the need for WASH (Water,SanitationandHygiene) is reaffirmed as handwashing is one of the ways to prevent Coronavirus infection and other diseases. The campaign will continue to raise awareness on the same along with focussing on the importance of nutrition and healthcare for women and children, fightmalnutrition, mental wellbeing, self care, science and health,adolescent health & gender awareness. Along with the health of people, the campaign has realised the need to also take care of the health of the eco-system. Our environment is fragile due to human activity, which is not only over-exploiting available resources, but also generating immense pollution as a result of using and extracting those resources. The imbalance has also led to immense biodiversity loss that has caused one of the biggest threats to human survival – climate change. It has now been described as a “code red for humanity.” The campaign will continue to cover issues likeair pollution,waste management,plastic ban,manual scavengingand sanitation workers andmenstrual hygiene. Banega Swasth India will also be taking forward the dream of Swasth Bharat, the campaign feels that only a Swachh or clean India wheretoiletsare used andopen defecation free (ODF)status achieved as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan launched byPrime Minister Narendra Modiin 2014, can eradicate diseases like diahorrea and the country can become a Swasth or healthy India.