The Ranipet district administration managed to execute a mass plastic waste collection drive on May 27, 2022, which involved 36000 stakeholders including government staff, members of the Legislative Assembly, elected representatives of all Urban and Rural local bodies, sanitary workers, members of self-help groups, MGNREGS workers, student volunteers, highway workers and public participation.
The feat has earned the district a place in Elite World Records, Asian Records Academy, India Records Academy and Tamilan Book of Records for the title “Largest Plastic Waste Collection Drive within 2500 Square Kilometres in 3 Hours”.
District Collector D. Baskara Pandian said, “With a sincere commitment to protect mother nature and to create a plastic free environment, we organised a massive plastic waste collection drive on May 27, 2022, in which all the 288 village Panchayats, eight town Panchayats and six municipalities actively participated. The aim behind the initiative was to fulfil the mission and vision of the Honourable Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Sri M.K. Stalin in ensuring a plastic-free environment.”
“I thank Thiru. R. Gandhi, Honourable Minister for Handlooms and Textiles, for supporting the district administration in all aspects. With the guidance of Dr V. Irai Anbu, Chief Secretary to the Government of Tamil Nadu, we at Ranipet district created a new world record by collecting 186.9 metric tonnes of plastic waste, surpassing the existing world record set by Switzerland which weighed 128.7 tonnes in three hours,” he added.
He further pointed out that in order to grab the public attention in ensuring a plastic-free environment, they decided on this mission as a world record project and were able to succeed in this due to scrupulous planning and perfect execution at each level.
“I am deeply worried about the fact that plastic waste is not only a threat to humankind, it also kills millions of birds, animals and marine organisms every year. I will be pleased to see this record being broken immediately in the near future, thereby eradicating tons of plastic from the environment,” he concluded.
P. Kumareswaran, DRO, pointed out the sincere efforts of the District Collector, starting from the awareness created with respect to the ill effects of dioxin emitted due to burning plastics, soil contaminations, the severe threat of plastics to humans, flora and fauna etc., to all the stakeholders of the district. “Due to meticulous planning and proper execution, this project has disrupted the demand and supply chain to halt new plastics entering the district,” he concluded.
G. Loganayagi, Project Director-DRDA, praised the project from a developmental perspective pointing out the vision of the District Collector to replace the single-use plastics by promoting farm products such as Banana, orchids and palm leaves etc. and the mission will preserve water resources, and prevent the livestock and aqua-marine organisms consuming the micro plastics.
The presence of plastic in the environment hurt ecosystems and human health and poses a threat to food safety as well. The project has given a platform for a safe environment and happy living. “We are pleased to certify this project as a new world record,” said Ameet. K. Hingorani, Senior Adjudicator, Elite World Records.
“I along with nine more ratifying officers physically inspected the activity and we verified all the weighing processes at weighing bridges and dump yards of the plastic waste. I am glad that they have removed industrial plastic waste, institutional plastic waste, domestic plastic waste and legacy plastic waste at all identified locations. This mission has also recovered single-use plastic waste from residential areas, empty plots, roads, state and national highways, companies and commercial establishments. I am sure this project has given a safe nature-friendly environment,” said Dr A.K. Senthil Kumar, Ambassador, Asian Records Academy.
“This visionary project executed by the district administration of Ranipet will be an everlasting asset to the district and the people should be responsible to practice a plastic-free environment,” said P. Jeganathan, Associate Editor, India Records Academy.
“This project has created awareness of the importance of a plastic-free environment for future generations; this is a new milestone in our state,” said Dr B. Bala Subramanian, Senior Records Manager, Tamilan Book of Records.
On behalf of the district administration, world record titles were conferred to District Collector. On the whole, this project has gained a lot of public appreciation.
