MCC launches nation’s first ‘Ploggathon’

MYSURU: The Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) adopted a different approach to tackling the problem of plastic waste in the city as a part of its Swachh Survekshan 2020 drive. Javagal Srinath, former cricketer and Krishne Gowda, a comedian flagged off the ‘Mysuru Maha Ploggathon’ in the presence of Pushpalatha Jagannath, Mayor, MCC and Gurudutt Hegde, Commissioner, MCC among others.

The ‘Ploggathon’ invited residents of the city to participate in a race. The residents who collected the highest quantity of plastic waste was adjudged the winner. The Corporation had set up three different routes for the participants to choose, starting from Kote Anjaneyaswamy temple. One group headed towards JC Circle and Gun House while the second headed towards KR Circle and the D Devaraj Urs Road. The third raced to Silver Jubilee Clock Tower and Ashoka Road and all of them converged at Town Hall at the end. The concept originated in Sweden where people picked up plastic waste while jogging. It soon became a trend across the world and a major part of the global environment movement.

For the race, each participant was given a cloth bag by the MCC to collect trash. At the end of the race, MCC weighed the plastic collected by each of the participants. Mayur, a resident of Agrahara, was declared the winner as collected 2.3 kg of garbage. According to DG Nagaraj, Health Officer, MCC, a total of two tonnes of plastic waste was collected from the defined routes as a result of the ‘Ploggathon’. The race was one of the first events in the city to witness citizen participation to such an extent with hundreds of residents participating in the event.