Kerala capital collects 10,000+ aluminium foils & 1,000 aluminium cans post T-20 cricket match

Thiruvanthapuram Municipal Corporation successfully completed a colossal clean-up drive after the India-vs-New Zealand T20 cricket match at the Greenfield Stadium on November 7. With the help of 150 ground workers, the municipal body collected 1.5 tonnes of food waste, approximately 25,000 eco-friendly plates, 10,000 aluminium foil containers, 1,000 aluminium cans and around 10,000 paper cups from the stadium. Those were then handed over to recycling plants (except food) in the state.

PEPSICO which joined hands with Thiruvanthapuram Municipal Corp under an extended producer responsibility (EPR) agreement also collected 35,000 pet bottles from the venue. 

Source: The News Minute

The waste collection and clean-up drive was ideated and proposed by the municipal corporation to with the objective of maintaining a clean venue as per “Green Protocol” of the “Suchitwa Mission.” It is a set of measures implemented by the state to reduce waste generation by focusing on the minimised use of disposable items and using reusable alternatives.

The reusable alternatives like aluminium foil containers and aluminium cans are to be sent to the recycling centres where they will be shredded and recycled to produce secondary aluminium.

Among many other challenges faced by the municipal workers during the clean-up drive was segregation of unsold food at the stadium-side stalls from various containers, as the food had to be then separated from aluminium foils.

Despite all the challenges, the drive met with success.

“This is the first time in the state that EPR was introduced for a big event. We are really proud of our workers who co-operated; we couldn’t have accomplished this without them. We cleared the entire venue in a matter of two days and have successfully segregated the waste. We are planning to continue the same method for all such big events in the city,” a health official said.