Grassroots clean-up: Woman mobilises students against banned plastic use

Women's Day SpecialVijayalakshmi Peri, who is on mission to stop using banned plastic covers in Hubballi-Dharwad, takes sessions in schools to involve students in her misison and make bags.Hubballi: The govt has banned the use of plastic, yet many vendors continue to use banned plastic in markets. Vijayalakshmi Peri from Sattur has been working for the past few years to encourage people to avoid using banned plastic.MTech graduate Vijayalakshmi, who works as a counselling psychologist, was involved in awareness activities against the use of banned plastic for 14 years. Starting from Vizag after her marriage, she moved to her native Sattur, Dharwad, in 2017. She also continued her awareness programmes to encourage people to stop using plastic. To strengthen her mission, she launched the ‘Stop Asking for One Time Plastic Covers' (OTPs) campaign by setting up her own NGO ‘Possible Together', last year.She conducts awareness sessions specially designed for children, and also involvs students in newspaper bag-making activities. In the last one year, more than 1 lakh bags were prepared by schoolchildren under her guidance. She has now set a target to make 25 lakh paper bags, and her ultimate goal is to replace 1 crore plastic bags with paper bags in Hubballi-Dharwad in the next 3 years.Recognising her work, the deputy director of public instruction also instructed all schools in the district to join hands with her mission and ensure each student from more than 700 schools made at least 25 paper bags.Vijayalakshmi Peri told TOI that she is focusing on a multi-level and multi-directional approach to reach multiple sectors of people to motivate them to stop using plastic. The chairman of the state-level committee of the National Green Tribunal, Subhash Adi, was also impressed with her mission and directed the education department to involve students in it. After this govt support, schoolstook the mission seriously, and she also got support from some local philanthropists."As a result of my sessions in several schools in Hubballi and Dharwad, many students prepared nearly 1 lakh paper bags with the help of tips given on my YouTube channel," she said. Students write, ‘I am proud to join in this mission, stop asking for OTP, my Mother Earth is my responsibility' on their bags, and take a pledge not to use plastic.Each student makes 100 to 150 bags, and these bags will be distributed to the vendors to encourage them to stop using banned plastic bags. "Certificates and badges are given to students as a mark of appreciation for joining hands with the mission," she said.Chintan Hattikal, a social worker in Dharwad, says that with the help of this mission, many students were involved in making bags, and it also helped many parents to stop using plastic bags and opt for paper bags in Hubballi-Dharwad.Students Surabhi, Manjunath, and others said they also made paper bags under this mission, and inspired their family members, friends, and others to join hands with them.Renu Patil, principal, JSS State Eng Medium School, Dharwad, and BS Rashmi, teacher, Smt Vimala Kulkarni School, Hubballi, lauded the work of Vijayalakshmi, who involves students in her mission to fight against the use of banned plastic.