A forum of homeowners have decided to launch an operation to clean Vembanad Lake of plastic material. The program will be organized as part of the year-round silver jubilee celebrations of Kerala houseboat tourism.
The proliferation of plastic waste in Goa's urban and villager settings and the abysmal desperate and inadequate arrangements of municipalities and panchayat authorities for the elimination of this plastic waste are issues that many NGOs and citizens of the environment have expressed anguish from the outset From the Goa Environment Federation (GEF).
At the first meeting of the GEF in June 1998, the problem of the disposal of plastic waste was highlighted as a major environmental problem facing Goa by at least five NGOs and several citizens in written submissions to the Committee on the Environment Of Goa by the GEF.
Subsequently, at each subsequent meeting, the topic was discussed. NGOs such as Nirmal Vishwa - who have worked on the problem of the disposal of plastic waste in recent years - explained the difficulties they faced in eliminating plastic waste after organizing collections in Ponda taluka. These movements - organized through schools and other educational institutions - received the cooperation of the public, but they had not dissuaded the use of disposable plastic by the citizens themselves. In addition, the problem of what to do with the plastic garbage, once collected, remained unresolved.
When the GEF came to know that the Bank of Goa of the Bombay Supreme Court had addressed the problem of garbage disposal in the state of Goa on a motorcycle petition, GEF thought it was apt to actively support the initiative of the court . Four organizations submitted requests for intervention: Nirmal Vishwa - Ponda; Popular Movement for Civic Action - Panjim; Goa Foundation - Mapusa; And Margao First - Margao.
A reading of the affidavits submitted by municipalities and panchayats in judicial proceedings revealed that none of these institutions had plans to deal with this problem. Neither had the government taken steps to care for the collection and disposal of increasing amounts of non-biodegradable waste generated in the cities and villages of Goa.