Plogging Our Way Towards Health! First Plog Run held in City Joined by Hotel Taj Gateway and MCC
Plogging Our Way Towards Health! United Ways First Plog Run held in City Joined by Hotel Taj Gateway, Mangaluru and Mangaluru City Corporation
Mangaluru :It’s a Movement ‘By The People’ & ‘For the People! Thereby Plogging Our Way To a Better Environment. Plogging or ‘Plucking + Running’, channels the physical activity of running and picking trash to compel a bigger change in the environment. India Plog Run is a ‘first of its kind’ initiative by United Way India, supported by Go Native that brings together some of the country’s biggest names in health, corporate and industry to highlight the need for reducing plastic consumption and compel a healthier way of managing trash. By conducting one of the country’s FIRST Plog Run, the organizers hope to make garbage collection fun, healthy, empowering and the environment a better place to live in.
It is in the power of community that true transformation lies. Under the aegis of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, the organizers hope to use plogging as a community activity that combines inherent health benefits with a larger purpose of mobilizing the community for greater good. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given a clarion call to the nation, asking every Indian citizen to combine fitness and cleanliness in their lives through plogging in his Mann Ki Baat address broadcast on September 29, 2019.
In his address the PM said, “The sports ministry is organizing the Fit India Plog Run on the occasion of the 150th birth anniversary of Bapu. This initiative starts from October 2 and all of us must ensure that we all jog for 2 kilometers and also pick up waste along the way. By doing this, not only will we take care of our own health, but the health of Mother Earth too.” The top bureaucrat at the Ministry of Environment said the government for now will ask states to enforce the existing rules against storing, manufacturing and using some single-use plastic products such as polythene bags and styrofoam, effective 2 October 2019.
The government’s proposed countrywide ban had dismayed consumer firms, which use plastic in packaging for everything from sodas and biscuits to ketchup and shampoo. Plastic waste is at epidemic proportions in the world’s oceans with an estimated 100 million tonnes dumped there to date, according to the United Nations. Scientists have found large amounts of micro plastic in the intestines of deep-dwelling ocean mammals like whales. India, which uses about 14 million tonnes of plastic annually, lacks an organised system for management of plastic waste, leading to widespread littering. The toxins, poisons and persistent pollutants present in some of these plastic products leach and enter human bodies where they cause several diseases, including cancer.
In order to bring awareness on this issue, the Plog Run was organized this morning, Wednesday, 2 October on the 150th Birth Anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. The event was flagged off by MLA Vedavyas Kamath, along with MCC Commissioner Shanady Ajith K Hegde, and joined by General Manager of Hotel Taj Gateway-Mangaluru Peter Nirmal, MCC Deputy Commissioner Gayathri Nayak, among many other MCC officials. Speaking on the occasion, MLA and MCC Commissioner urged the public to keep the City clean, and try to avoid the use of plastic containers and other products made of plastic- and everyone took a oath on the occasion.
The participants walked from MCC building towards Lady Hill, Ballalbagh and ended their walk back at the MCC building, returning with bags full of plastic materials picked along the walk/run route. Taj Gateway had also set up a booth at the venue, displaying all the paper containers that the hotel will be using starting today to serve/pack food items. Speaking to Team Mangalorean Hotel Taj Gateway GM Peter Nirmal said, “According to a 2010 audit done by our Hotel group, each guestroom in a hotel produces between one kg and 57 kg of waste per day. It consists of biodegradable, non-biodegradable — including plastic — waste. If this waste is not reduced or recycled, it contributes in considerable measure to environmental degradation. In a bid to reduce plastic waste, Taj Hotels, Palaces, Resorts, Safaris, Vivanta, Gateway and Ginger Hotels are participating in a plastic elimination challenge “.
“Our hotels, which are part of Indian Hotels Company Limited (IHCL) will compete with each other in giving up plastic usage through innovative solutions. In line with IHCL’s commitment to safeguard the environment, the initiative of phasing out plastic is a vital step towards developing sustainable practices.We will replace plastic-wrapped dry amenities in our hotel rooms, also food containers etc with eco-friendly substitutes, like paper products. Our hotels also employ energy efficient practices in several areas of operation including the use of LED lights and light dimmers in guest floor corridors and the lobby. Water level sensors are used to avoid wastage of water due to overflowing, along with rain-water harvesting measures and solar panels for pre-heating of water. To measure the performance on various environmental parameters, the hotel group holds regular energy audits” added Peter Nirmal.
MCC also had a formal function after the Plog Run on “Angikaar-Embracing Change” in association of Rotary Club of Mangalore Central, and Rotaract Club of Mangalore Central.
