Come July 1, Himachal Pradesh govt. to start buying single-use plastic items from students of 100 schools

As the Centre has decided to ban the use of single-use plastic from July 1, the hill State of Himachal Pradesh is all set to kick-start a buy-back scheme in schools and colleges to purchase the single-use plastic items from students in a bid to instill a sense of environment preservation by ‘catching them young’.

Under the novel scheme, the students would be encouraged to bring single-use plastic items from their home and deposit it with the school, for which they will be paid ₹ 75 a kg by the government — the aim to inculcate a habit among the youngsters towards environment conservation.

“Across the State, we have 3,000 Eco-clubs in schools and in 100 colleges under the National Green Corps programme — these Eco-clubs are an association of student-teachers that work to inculcate environmental awareness and protection. As a pilot project, we will start the buy-back scheme in 100 schools from July 1. Later, we will scale it up and implement the scheme in all the schools and colleges through the Eco-clubs. We will pay the students ₹ 75 a kg for the single-use plastic items they bring. The purpose is to catch the students in their early years and teach them about environmental conservation. We believe that once a habit towards environment protection is inculcated during childhood it could stay lifelong,” Lalit Jain, director, Environment, Science-Technology and Member Secretary, Himachal Pradesh Council for Science, Technology and Environment (HIMCOSTE), told The Hindu.