After taking up my position as President of the Phalodi Center of Mahavir International in April, we initiated efforts to make Phalodi a plastic-free place. Phalodi is a small town in western Rajasthan, India with a population of 60,000 people.
The town of Phalodi in Western Rajasthan, India
With the help of active volunteers, I started this campaign of making all major routes of Phalodi free from plastic. As we know, the success of such initiatives is only possible when the common people of the locality are also actively participating. Considering this, volunteers held door-to-door awareness campaigns to ensure the participation of the locals.
We also have a project that focuses on making multi-pouch cloth bags from recycling old rice bags. There is now a large demand for that bag in the market, and we are planning to help a group of ladies make these kinds of bags and sell them in the market to provide them with additional income.
The multi-pouch cloth bags used in Phalodi are designed by Mrs Anuradha Mokha
To ensure awareness of the #BreakFreeFromPlastic movement among the locals, we organized a roadshow on the auspicious occasion of Ram Navmi last April 19. We ran a campaign for a plastic-free Earth by making a plastic monster under the guidance of the #breakfreefromplastic team.
Volunteers came together to create the plastic monster
A volunteer artist puts finishing touches on the plastic monster
As the mythology depicts the story of the end of a demon with weapons of truth and justice, similarly plastic was represented as the demon that can only be killed by the will and efforts of the common people. “Today’s Demon – Plastic” was the theme of the show, where people were informed about the evil effects of plastic on our environment.
The scary plastic demon
The #plasticmonster roadshow
Although we started with a small team, we witnessed the strong participation of volunteers, which marks the success of our #BreakFreeFromPlastic movement in Phalodi. These volunteers are determined to dedicate their time and efforts to make Phalodi free from plastic.
Volunteers of Mahavir International Phalodi Centre
With the central leadership of the Mahavir International Institute and the participation of the locals, this small movement created a big revolution on the streets of Phalodi and this makes us more hopeful for the day where plastic will just be history.
