CEPTians set to reduce plastic waste on campus

Recently, Ahmedabad Times had highlighted how the city had received flak from the National Green Tribunal at a meeting held in Gandhinagar, for not doing enough in the fight against plastic usage. After that, the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation swung into action, conducting regular drives and fining those using banned plastic bags. However, it is impossible for the authorities to win this battle for safeguarding our environment, unless citizens joined hands to cooperate with them. And in a heartening development, CEPT University is making conscious efforts to make sure plastic waste is reduced as much as possible. Students and professors have started bringing their own bottles, and cutlery at times to the campus, to ensure there is no single use plastic usage and waste on campus.At a recently held symposium, Rutul Joshi, associate professor at CEPT University, urged everyone to carry their own water bottles, “We as CEPTians are only making efforts to reduce as much plastic waste as possible by carrying our own bottles and mugs. The students and faculty members have been carrying their mugs too, so that there are no heaps of waste created from single use plastic bottles and cups. Had I not sent that email, we would have probably used 200 bottles of water by the end of the two-day symposium and created so much waste!”Canteens lead from the frontIn keeping with the mission, some of the university canteens have also joined the fight to minimize plastic usage. Prashanth Narayanan, a research associate, shares, “Even the at the canteen, they serve tea/coffee in glass cups or kullad. We have many canteens on campus and not all are abiding by the ‘no plastic’ rule just yet. But everyone is making joint efforts and we are reaching there slowly.”Carrying own bottles and cutleryJoshi goes on to explain why students and professors are carrying their own mugs and bottles, “Heaps of waste at Pirana is a symbol of the development that Ahmedabad has seen over the last couple of decades, but it has come at a huge cost. As citizens, we have to make conscious efforts to reduce and create minimum (plastic) waste that is affecting the environment.”CEPT has students who carry their own mugs. “A couple of years back, the students had even made mugs and distributed among themselves to avoid using plastic,” adds Joshi.There are many who have been avoiding plastic for a long time now. “We have been using terracotta cutlery since over five years now. Be it meetings or hosting guests, we only serve in our cutlery because we have been making conscious efforts to reduce single use plastic waste,” shares Anu Sutaria, director, alumni office.Also, there are students who have taken initiatives to make those around them more aware. Prachi Patel, a final year master’s student of furniture design, shares that she and 12 other students from her batch have requested the canteen to serve them beverage in paper cups, “Sometime back, we had requested them to serve us beverages in paper cups but we are told even those have a plastic lining. So now, we will get our own cups and mugs.”Apart from reducing plastic waste, students are also making sure to reduce food wastage. “The students order only as much food as they need from the canteen” says Isha Humnabadkar, a final year furniture design student.One hopes that more Amdavadis would follow the example of these CEPTians in the near future!