Page 58 - Plastics News April 2019

in the news

Punjab College Grows Mushrooms Despite ban, plastic remains

from Kitchen Waste in Plastic carrier of choice
Bottles, Wins Award!

or want of a viable alternative, the Bruhat Bengaluru
undreds of plastic bottles and several kilograms FMahanagara Palike (BBMP) and the Karnataka
Hof agricultural waste found a new life, thanks to Forest Department continue to defy the plastic ban in
two professors at the MCM DAV College for Women in nurseries. The Forest Department has already prepared
the saplings in plastic bags in all its nurseries. Punati
Chandigarh. Inspired by an initiative focusing on solid waste Sridhar, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, said his
management at their college, the professors, along with department would do some experiments this year on
students, cultivated species of mushrooms that not only the bags. Meanwhile, the Institute of Wood Science
utilised large quantities and Technology (IWST) is joining forces with industry
of waste but also partners to try out some alternatives. These include
empowered rural folk bags made with polybag materials like poly-lactic acid,
of Chandigarh. About a starch and polybutylene adipate terephthalate (PBAT).
year and a half ago, the While they are working with biodegradable plastic, they
Chandigarh college had seem to be less effective since they are thin and tend
initiated a programme to degrade when exposed for long periods.
that encouraged the "We came out with some alternatives, but the Forest
teachers and students Department is not convinced about it for financial
to devise innovative, reasons. While Bengaluru is trying to work on Plant
novel ideas to manage liquid and solid waste. Among the Nurseries, the forest department officialsin mysuru
many ideas initiated, was one about cultivating oyster have come up with a unique nitiative to make good
mushrooms in the college campus. Assistant Professors use of the disposed plastic in KR Pet taluk of Mandya
Vandana Sharma and Sandeep Kaur spearheaded this district. The forest department officials in mysuru
initiative and got their students to help them out in the
course. Kaur says, “Lack of space is a major obstacle
for farmers who wish to experiment with a new crop.
Mushroom cultivation solves this. It requires very less
space to grow. In fact, if you start cultivating oyster
mushrooms in a 2-litre soft-drink bottle, it will give you
a yield of about 0.5 kg in the first batch itself. This, she
says, will benefit farmers and rural women. They can
cultivate a profitable crop without investing much in
terms of land or finance. we wondered why we couldn’t
use plastic bottles as pots for the fungi cultivation. So
plastic bottles from the college campus were cleaned are collecting two-litre soft drink bottles disposed by
and sterilised to have mushrooms growing in them,” says public at hotels and in general places to water plants
Kaur. A project that tackles both plastic waste and a in summer. The bottles are being used as a tool for
major cause of air pollution as well as emphasises on the drip irrigation for plants during summer The concept
is under pilot project in KR Pet and will be adopted in
nutrition needs of rural folk, oyster mushroom farming other places in Mysuru division. Drip irrigation using
is empowering in many ways. Recently, it won the third plastic bottles was first initiated in the district. Chief
award for the ‘best citizen-led innovation’ challenge by conservator of forests (Mysuru Division) Ambady Madhav
the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs. It’s a true win of said " Through this unique method, water drop rate can
science when the innovative ideas just don’t get space in be controlled Water flow can be adjusted per minute.
pages but also in the real practical world. The landscape If we adjust low drip, then the water filledin the bottle
of higher education has a massive role to play. lasts for one or two days.”

Plastics News April 2019 58