A project to clean the sea, coast.

Plastic waste pollution and its impact on marine life and the human food chain is a globally identified potential health hazard. Kerala generates around 450 tonnes of plastic per day and only a small portion of it gets recycled. More than 70 per cent of it ends up in the sea. According to Suchitwa Mission, on average, a family in the state generates 60 grams of plastic waste everyday.

The role played by plastic waste in worsening the back-to-back floods in the state pushed authorities to focus on the issue. Unfortunately, a large chunk of waste ends up in streams and rivers, until it is discharged into the sea causing pollution. A team of NGOs, as part of a special initiative, conducted a sea-diving drive on Kovalam beach and scooped up around 71kg of plastic debris. Bottles, caps, food packets, sanitary products, ghost nets and other discarded items were found among the debris. Likewise, in the past three years, fishermen who venture into the sea have brought back tonnes of plastic waste to the harbour at Shakthikulangara in Kollam as part of Suchitwa Sagaram -- an initiative of the state government. The waste is then segregated, shredded, auctioned and used for road construction.

Despite spending Rs. 2.5 crore over two years on anti-plastic waste campaigns, the state government has failed to reduce plastic pollution. Now, the government has come up with an Integrated Coastal Zone Management Project (ICZMP), which is funded by the World Bank and primarily aims at removing marine litter and ghost nets from the coasts of Kerala. The Rs. 280-crore project will be implemented along a 175-km-long coastal stretch, covering Kasaragod, Kannur, Malappuram and Kozhikode, over a period of four years.

“The World Bank has approved the detailed project report and even sanctioned `30 lakh for setting up the state project implementation unit. We will begin implementing the project from next month. Besides the four years to implement the project, the World Bank will monitor the initiative for four more years to ensure the initiative is sustainable,” said P Kalaiarasan, additional project director, Kerala Centre for Integrated Coastal Management (KCICM). Kerala State Coastal Area Development Corporation (KSCADC) will be the nodal agency for the project.

He said the state will chip in with 20 per cent of the total project cost. “Fifty per cent of the fund will be provided by the World Bank and 30 per cent by the Centre. We have listed 74 activities as part of the project and will implement it with the help of various government departments. The primary aim is to minimise the quantum of plastic pollution in the sea by collecting it manually and recycling it,” said P Kalaiarasan. He also said that around 25 nautical miles of the sea, which falls under the CRZ area, will be cleaned up. Abandoned, lost and discarded fishing gear (ALDFG) or ghost net is another major concern that needs to be addressed. 

THE NEW INDIAN EXPRESS