Minicoy, the southernmost island in the Lakshadweep archipelago, is taking baby steps towards becoming a plastic waste-free island. The island, troubled by the accumulation of plastic waste, is attempting to tackle the problem under an initiative of the Maliku (Minicoy’s name in the local language) Development Society (MDS), NGO Waves, and the Kozhikode-based Niravu Vengeri.
“Except for coconut and fish, we get everything from the mainland in plastic packets. People here usually throw them away or burn them. This has led to severe ecological and health hazards,” P.V. Mohammed Ismail, vice chairman of MDS, says.
The discarded plastic was affecting the coral reefs while on land they hindered the root growth of coconut trees and rainwater circulation. “Continuous burning of plastic may be one of the reasons behind the increasing cancer cases here,” he adds.
It was Niravu’s efforts to tackle the plastic waste issue in Andrott, another island in the group, a year ago that drew MDS’ attention. Niravu, known for its waste management efforts in Kozhikode and nearby districts, had sent its volunteers to Minicoy on a five-day mission recently where they took charge of Sedivalu, one of the 10 villages there, giving awareness classes to the local people. They demonstrated their waste management methods in one part of the village following which MDS and Waves took over and cleaned up the village thoroughly. The 140 bags of plastic waste collected were shipped to Beypore in Kozhikode and was sent to the Kozhikode Corporation’s plastic recycling plant, run by Niravu in West Hill.
The MDS plans to extend the initiative to other parts of the island as well. “We plan to distribute waste bins to all households for waste segregation at the source. More awareness classes will be held,” Mr. Ismail says.
Meanwhile, Niravu is planning to send a 15-member team to the island soon to work on the remaining nine villages. “An advantage with Lakshadweep is that people here do not mix food waste with plastic. They feed the food waste to animals. So the plastic is rather clean,” said Babu Parambath, Project coordinator of Niravu, recalling his experiences in Andrott, Agatti, Kavaratti and Kalpeni islands where their mission is in progress under the aegis of Waves.
The MDS is also planning to set a model out of Minicoy with the aim of taking over the waste management of all the islands from the administration.
