BHUBANESWAR, Odisha: On the occasion of World Soil Day, on December 5, the ‘Youth4WaterIndia’ campaign has launched a “Plastic-Free Picnic Challenge” among youth in the state of Odisha. The water man of Odisha, Ranjan Panda, Co-founder of the Youth4Water campaign, informed that the challenge starts on December 5, 2022, and will conclude on January 1, 2023. Under this challenge, youth visiting forests and water bodies for picnics will be urged not to use single-use plastic items and clean up the sites of all the non-biodegradable wastes after their picnic ends.
Anurag Gupta, State Programme Director, WaterAid India, a partner of the campaign, said that the aim of this programme is to reach out to thousands of youths with the message of conservation of our natural spots.
Satyabrata Samal, Founder of Sattvic Soul Foundation, said that youth associated with the foundation will visit various picnic spots to spread the messages of the campaign and will help the picnickers clean up the plastic litter simultaneously.
According to Soumya Ranjan Biswal, Founder Trustee, Odisha Paryavaran Sanrakshan Abhiyan, many people go to ecological hotspots in the coastal regions for picnics, and they need to be aware of keeping the beaches and other places clean. With the help of this campaign, we will raise awareness.
S K Mohd Niyaz of Radio Bulbul, Bhadrak, another partner in this initiative, said, “We are preparing video and radio messages to reach out to as many youths as we can, asking them to be true green champions by avoiding use of single use plastic and going for green products such as sal leaf, etc.”
It is not enough to just ban plastic. We need to come up with sustainable alternatives of plastic and also have the capacity to recycle plastic waste so collected. Neelima Mishra of Ceiba Green Solutions, another partner organisation, stressed the need for better facilities to recycle waste. She said, “We need to have more alternatives to single-use plastic products, and youths in Odisha are capable of doing that if provided with proper support.”
While representative of Educo, Sukanta Behera, said, “More thrust should be given to continuous education on environmental conservation in each school and college of the state so that such matters can be handled at the source.”
Swapnasri Sagangi, Foundation for Ecological Security (FES), said that the youth in the state can take a leadership role in the conservation of the common property resources such as the rivers and forests, and by targeting youths, we will be able to reach out to their families and community members with a larger message of conservation of ecological resources.
Rotary Club of Sambalpur Greater, Odisha Local, NYKS and Biswaparibaar are the other partners actively participating in this campaign.
Panda further informed that the ‘Youth4Water’ campaign was flagged off at the 3rd Odisha River Conference organised by Water Initiatives and partner organisations at Baripada in March 2019. He further added, “It has now reached out to thousands of youth directly and lakhs of them through online platforms. We have now decided to call this campaign ‘Youth4WaterIndia’ as partners from other states have also shown interest to join this initiative.”