PARIVARTAN  CAMPAIGN
 An Effort to shun Polybags and encourage cloth bags – DAY 1

15th November 2010

Plastic bags have become a menace to the society. They are strewn everywhere from garbage dumps to streets to roads to choked drains and even stomachs of cows. But more importantly they are seen in our homes, from where they ultimately come. The only solution to this non-biodegradable waste is a cloth bag which is reusable.

 ‘Parivartan’ is our effort to shun polybags and encourage the use of cloth and jute bags in the local community. In this campaign cloth bags(made by our students) would be distributed free of cost by the students to residents, shopkeepers and local vendors of Rajinder Nagarand East Patel Nagar. Local residents can also get their own cloth bag stitched by our tailors free of cost. We propose to do this programme for three consecutive Sundays( 14th, 21st,28th ) in the month of November in Rajinder nagar and East Patel Nagar. Our programme is supported by TERI and TETRA PAK.

 The event was advertised among the residents via pamphlets which were distributed to them by our students through a door to door campaign. The programme was launched on 14th November 2010, Children’s Day, at the Mother dairy outlet in Rajinder Nagar at 8am. The other SPS centre was just outside the Big Apple retail store in Rajinder Nagar. The program was inaugurated by our local MP  Hon’ble Mr. Ramakant Goswami who applauded the kids for their efforts. Our Principal Mrs. Vandana Puri and our headmistress Mrs. Anuradha Mathur were also present to encourage the children.

Action started at sharp 8am with our young green brigadiers catching people and snatching their polybags, politely of course, exchanging them with cloth and jute bags. Besides this , at both these centres our tailors sat sincerely stitching cloth bags from the cloth brought by the local residents. The effort was highly praised by the local residents who were more than happy to get the beautiful cloth bags. Many even promised the kids to use it daily for their groceries. The program continued up till 12noon and then resumed again at 3pm and went on till 5pm, this time with a different group a students.

In the afternoon session Senior Scientific officer from the Ministry of Environment, Dr. B. C. Sabata also visited our centres. He was in full praise of the effort and even talked about replicating this programme on a larger scale with other schools across the city in an effort to free the city from the menace polythenes.

Reducing the waste of our city was the underlying the theme of our programme. Keeping this in mind we never wanted any packaged food for our young volunteers. Packaged food usually comes in plastic containers which when discarded would increase the carbon footprint of our programme. So we organised lunch at a local eating joint, ‘Udupi Eating House’ barely few metres from our centres. The children went to the joint in two batches and enjoyed sizzling hot ‘masala dosa…………waste generated = ZERO.

All in all, the first phase was highly successful, appreciated by the local residents, young adults, senior citizens, children, school authorities and officials from the Government. Its so true that when you do some kind of selfless work for others the satisfaction and fulfillment that you get is indescribable. That’s how we all felt……………satisfied, content, and very very happy.

We are all charged up and are looking forward to next Sunday to carry forward this programme with a greater success and to greater heights………..

22^nd November 2010

PARIVARTAN  CAMPAIGN – An Effort to shun polybags and encourage cloth bags – DAY 2

On 20th November 2010 at 5 in the evening a small group of ten year olds gathered in ‘Sindi park’ , the most sort after park for the health conscious residents of Rajinder Nagar. These children were not there to meet their friends or for a game of football but had gathered there for a greater cause – to spread awareness about Salwan Public School’s ‘Parivartan’ campaign. Full of energy and enthusiasm these kids disseminated hundreds of pamphlets among the evening walkers within an hour, making them aware of our campaign and encouraging them to bring their old cloth to get their own bags stitched from our tailors the next day.
 
 

Campaign ‘Parivartan’ Day 2 in Rajinder Nagar kicked off with a bang on 21st November 2010. The children reached their respective points at 7:45am, well before time. Within minutes the stall was set up, the boards put up and our tailors were back to business. Our green brigade was ready to pounce on anyone carrying a polythene bag to exchange it with a cloth bag. Soon residents started pouring in the Mother Dairy to buy their Sunday groceries. But as soon as they stepped out of the outlet they were surprised by a group of tiny tots exchanging their polybags with cloth bags, explaining to them the evils of polythenes to our environment and taking a wow from them to always carry the same cloth bag for their daily shopping.  

The residents were in all praise of the schools effort to protect and conserve the environment. Many of them returned back from their homes with loads of old cloth for our tailors to get their own bag stitched. There were times when our tailors couldn’t keep up pace with the enthusiastic response generated in the community by our children. There was action from the start at both the stalls and hundreds of bags were distributed in the community. We also had a good collection of empty tetra pak cartons that day.

At around 11 am the famished team of children and teachers crowded together at ‘Udupi Eating House’ and had a sumptuous breakfast of sizzling hot dosas and idlis, after which we were then back in action and the campaign continued till 2pm in the afternoon.

In the afternoon we also had Mr. Peter Andre from TETRA PAK visit our stalls. He applauded the effort and gifted the children with some goodies made out of recycled tetra paks. All in all day 2 of the ‘Parivartan’ campaign was a grand success.

We at Salwan wish that our efforts are spread and appreciated and the idea replicated across the city and ultimately culminate into a change……a transition…….a “parivartan”……. in the society………….making our very own Dilli free from polythene bags.

And yes… once again, eagerly and enthusiastically  looking forward to the next Sunday’s programme, this time in East Patel Nagar……….

29th November 2010

PARIVARTAN  CAMPAIGN – An Effort to shun polybags and encourage cloth bags – DAY 3

Day 3 and the final day of campaign ‘Parivartan’ ………...….Time-8am………….Place- vegetable market in East Patel Nagar……….Scene-the usual hustle-bustle of any ‘sabzi’ market. Early morning walkers buying their daily groceries,  loaded with vegetables, carrying them in the so very convenient polythene bags………lots of polythene bags. Suddenly out of the blue a small group of enthusiastic children surrounded the residents, like police ‘chalaning’ an accused. Only, the chalan in this case was a big lecture on the evils of polybags and the ticket was a beautiful cloth bag in exchange for their polythenes. The residents were so elated to transfer all the contents of the polythenes in these cloth bags. The children also distributed pamphlets and posters on the evils of polythenes to the residents and encouraged them to get their own bags stitched from our tailors free of cost, following which the residents thronged our centres with metres of old cloth to get their very own personal bag stitched.

Our second centre was placed just outside the retail store ‘Big Apple’ in East Patel Nagar. Here too the response of the residents was outstanding. Being a retail for fresh vegetables this centre too was visited by early morning shoppers who very gladly exchanged their polythenes for cloth and jute bags. The children even convinced a number of people to completely shun poly bags and carry these cloth bags on a daily basis while shopping .The programme continued for the next six hours and ended at 2pm. The final day and the entire program was a huge success. After a sumptuous meal of Domino’s pizza for the kids (Come on, I know we shouldn’t encourage junk food but these kids deserved it as they had really worked hard during the entire programme) and a ‘thali’ for the teachers we all dispersed for our homes and school with a great sense of satisfaction and achievement.

All in all the entire campaign was a huge success and will go far in the history of Salwan as a ‘green social initiative’ to motivate and encourage future generations to take the initiatives to protect, preserve and conserve their environment through local actions impacting the community and ultimately making a difference globally.

ACT LOCALLY…………………………………………………………………………..THINK GLOBALLY

ACT TO SAVE OUR PLANET…………………………….IT’S THE ONLY ONE WE HAVE……………………or make serious efforts to search for another one!!!!!!!