Hyderabad: The Telangana chief secretary office has revealed that a mere 9% of the plastic being used in Telangana was being recycled, leaving the rest in the state’s canals, ponds, rivers, and lands.
This has prompted chief secretary Santhi Kumari to call for a voluntary ban on single-use plastic, which has many environmental hazards. In this regard, a workshop was held on Saturday, October 21, at the Telangana State Secretariat.
“The CS advised the secretaries to set an example by voluntarily following the plastic ban at the secretariat level,” read a tweet from the official account of the Telangana chief secretary.
The chief secretary revealed that 142 state municipalities and corporations had been sensitized about the single-use plastic ban. “Mainly, plastic is being used more in disposable water bottles, covers, plates, cups, glasses, and straws. Instead of these, people have been asked to use steel and porcelain,” she said.
An exhibition of alternative materials to plastic was one of the highlights of the workshop. Rajeev Sharma, advisor to the state government and chairman of the Pollution Control Board, special principal secretaries, principal secretaries, and secretaries of various departments discussed the prospect of the voluntary ban on plastics.
“Everyone should work individually with social responsibility to make Telangana free from single-use plastic,” Rajeev Sharma said.
