Ramzan is that time of the year when Muslims indulge in fasting as well as feasting. Therefore, it is a month of joy and as a matter-of-fact sumptuous food. So much so, with the food stalls selling important dishes like Biryani or ‘Kebabs’, the increase of plastic waste becomes a grave issue. Since the low-budgeted food stalls, or even the reputed ones use plastic as a means to keep or give food on, the usage of plastic leads to a lot of non-biodegradable wastes.
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In Bangalore, however, some people had taken an oath to celebrate ‘Eco-Friendly’ Ramzan this year. This take, however appreciable isn’t easy at all. To distribute eco-friendly high quality plates and carry bags to around 2,000 people isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. But, MS Sufiyan, along with Syed Zakir Hussain, Wajid Ansari, Naveed Ali, Nafees Ahmed, Shabbir Ahmed, Mohammad Iqbal, Jeddah Nayeem, Mohammad Rafi, Syed Oosman and Akbar Imran have been relentlessly working hard to make this Ramzan, an eco-friendly one. A group in Shivajinagar has saved money and bought around 4,000 sets of eco-friendly and reusable plates, tumblers and cups which costed around 1.4 lakhs. These were then distributed around mosques and food stalls to reduce the trash which is generated from low quality plastics. Along with Shivajinagar, this has also happened in Mosque Road, Frazer Town, which is the hub f Iftar food during Ramadan.
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Melanine is a high quality plastic which can be easily reused and recycled, thus making the wastage of plastic lesser or negligible. The volunteers bought this especially from Mumbai in order to distribute in during Ramzan. The visitors were handed plates and melanine bowls which they could reuse after years as well. Also, the volunteers set up composting units, drums of 300 litres each outside three mosque so that the wet wastes could be thrown into them by the visitors. This message was spread near about in 65 mosques in Bangalore itself.
Along with it, the volunteers even made sure to educate the common mass about the ill-use and harmful effects of plastic. With the #SayNoToPlastics campaign spreading at a high and positive rate, this initiative helped spread the message of saying no to plastics to a lot of illiterate or lesser educated people.
Hats off to all those sensible beings who helped our earth from being choked!
