Mangaluru: Acting on mitigating the plastic menace in rural areas, a meeting in Dakshina Kannada Zilla Panchayat on Monday resolved that panchayatraj institutions should reserve five percent of their annual budgetary grant for waste plastic management.

The meeting was conducted under the auspices of the zilla panchayat and Jana Shikshana Trust, a non-government organisation, and other organisations.

It resolved that 230 gram panchayats, five taluk panchayats and the zilla panchayat should reserve funds for activities related to the collection of waste plastic, its transportation, and creating awareness among people not to throw away plastic and dump it in public places.

It was decided that people would be educated on how to segregate plastic from household waste, preserve it, and then sell it to plastic collectors. It was also decided that all gram panchayats should enforce the ban plastic bags, flexes, buntings, flags and banners strictly. They should also ban burning of plastic. More awareness programmes should be conducted in schools to mitigate the use of plastic.

A participant pointed out that though the State government had issued a notification on total plastic ban in March, panchayat development officers (PDOs) still issued permits for plastic flexes, buntings, banners and flags. N.R. Umesh, deputy secretary, zilla panchayat, said that action would be taken against such PDOs.

Aboobakkar, a participant, suggested that lunch box-type vessels could be used for taking home meat and fish. Though it caused some inconvenience, people could start using such boxes to avoid the use of plastic.

Shruti, another participant, pointed out that plastic collected in villages should be taken for recycling. Otherwise, mere collecting plastic would be of no use. She said that plastic, which can not be recycled, is in circulation in towns and villages. There was a need to think about cutting the supply line of plastic from source.

Meenakshi Shantigodu, president, zilla panchayat, said that shopkeepers themselves should take the responsibility of disposing plastic and throw it away openly. They should maintain plastic bins in their respective shops. She said that throwing of plastic in open places, especially on the Thokkottu-Mudipu Road, has become a menace. Every individual has a role to play in mitigating the use of plastic, she concluded.