Mulls recycling, paper bags, bamboo straws, waste segregation and greater sensitisation
Morung Express News
Dimapur | June 5
With the objective of reducing use of plastic, Team Clean Dimapur organised a seminar with the Nagaland Hotels and Restaurants Association (NHRA) on June 5. With ‘Beat Plastic Pollution’ as the theme, the seminar, organised at Hotel Saramati, Dimapur, explored the idea making the hotels industry in the state more environment-friendly.
Dimapur Municipal Council Administrator, Moa Sangtam, who attended the seminar, called for reducing plastic use by doing away with the “traditional waste management system” and exploring new strategies to curb plastic pollution.
The best options, he said, would be to reduce, stop or judicious application of plastic. While stating that recycling plastic is one way to reduce waste, he said that discarded plastic can be applied in development activities too such as in road construction.
Judiciously segregating waste by ensuring that organic and non-biodegradable wastes are distinguished would be a good way to start, he added. While encouraging the use of paper bags instead of polythene, he proposed the idea of Team Clean Dimapur and the NHRA collaborating to find ways and means to reduce the use of plastic in the hospitality sector.
NHRA president, Vito Sumi said that the NHRA as a body felt encouraged by the initiative. Stating that the shift from plastic to more environment-friendly ways and looking for alternatives might take some time, he nevertheless said that the NHRA is willing enough to cooperate. He though reminded that not all the hotels and restaurants are affiliates of the NHRA.
Team Clean Dimapur member, Jenpu Rongmei highlighted some of the viable options hotels can introduce for reducing plastic pollution. Promoting paper bags and bamboo straws, proper waste segregation at source, display of informative pamphlets which are easily visible to customers and reusing or recycling were a few of the options highlighted. He also proposed the practicality of declaring a certain number of hotels and restaurants as plastic free zones.
“It is a huge challenge but it’s worth a try, he said.
