Plastic bottles make up a huge part of waste that is generated in the country. But “there are ways to make the most of every bottle’ – say students of Mendrelgang Middle Secondary School in Tsirang. And the school is not just providing lip-service. It has, in fact, built a raft using a little over 600 pet bottles that were thrown away.
Plastic bottles take more than 700 years to decompose, and take at least 1,000 years to fully decompose.
The science coordinator of Mendrelgang School says many consumers buy bottled goods but forget that the bottles can be recycled and put to good use, like the school building a raft.
|
[media id=484 width=320 height=260]
|
|---|
“Gelephug’s Mao River suffers annually from floods and this can be the alternative way where villagers can make themselves. They can use it not for large scale but for small transportation. So this is what we have thought,” said I. Jatishwor Singh, the coordinator and teacher.
Deepak Raj Chettri who is a teacher, said looking at the model the villagers are also planning to build one. “Even teachers here are planning to make a small raft for pleasure.”
The raft made from hundreds of plastic bottles highlights the issue of plastic debris. The students also believe that since plastic bottles are everywhere, they should be reused in the most efficient manner.
Villagers had rushed to catch a glimpse of the new but simple innovation when the students had tried it in their pond. The villagers then reacted saying that waste is not waste if reused well.
