The State government on Friday informed a Division Bench of the Kerala High Court that of the 44 legacy waste disposal sties identified in the State, biomining has been completed in 19 sites and it is in various stages at the remaining sites.
When a suo motu case initiated in the wake of the fire breakout at the Brahmapuram waste treatment plant came up before the Bench comprising Justice Bechu Kurian Thomas and Justice Gopinath P., C.E. Unnikrishnan, special government pleader, submitted that the government had directed the local bodies to establish plastic bottle collection booths wherever required and various local self-government institutions had already set up such booths. He further submitted that as part of the steps taken to sensitise school students to avoid dumping of waste in public places, the Education department had included lessons relating to sanitation and waste management in the syllabus of classes 1,3,5,7 and 9. Besides, class room level awareness programmes were being conducted by the Suchitwa Mission Resource Persons. Children’s Haritha Sabha was also being organised.
The Higher Education department would take steps to declare all the higher education institutions as green campuses. That apart, subject of scientific waste management would be included as part of the graded online course approved by universities, aspart of internship projects, study tours, and research. A school-level grading to evaluate and ensure scientific waste management facilities would be done.
