Manipal: StoPlastic Manipal is a campaign started by the students of Manipal Institute of Communication (MIC), MAHE to persuade the people of the education hub to stop using plastic. Instead, the campaign promotes responsible waste-segregation practices so that sanitation workers can recycle the waste appropriately. The campaign, which got underway on Wednesday, October 9, also intends to encourage consumers and shopkeepers to reduce the consumption of plastic.
“Our beaches and mountains are as littered with wastes as are our cities and neighbourhoods,” said one member of the group. StoPlastic Manipal aims to achieve near-zero plastic consumption in Manipal by encouraging stakeholders to act and facilitate the change.
To begin with, StoPlastic Manipal has already started an aggressive digital campaign to show the prevalence of plastic in our lives. The publicity stunt that took place today was conducted to catch the public eye.
Groups of students from MIC were found in the busiest areas of Manipal, wearing garbage bags over their heads, and standing still, amidst the passing crowd. The idea of this demonstration was to show how the growing menace of plastic is “choking” human beings.
The student-groups were spread across thirteen hotspots, namely: Student Plaza, Inox, Tiger Circle, Cupzo Cafe, Upendra Pai Circle, MIT Main Gate, Canara Mall, International Students Hostel, End Point, Saralabettu Road, MIT Hostel Block 13, Manipal Edu Building, and KMC.
Pedestrians naturally became curious about the demonstration, which led them to ask questions regarding the act. They were provided with an introduction to the campaign and what it stood for. This was the first time that an awareness campaign was carried out in this manner in Manipal.
The group was able to impress the people with this demonstration. That was discernible by the way a lot of the pedestrians reacted. They agreed that the need of the hour was to eliminate plastic from our lives. A lot of them even agreed to spread the word and make sure that Manipal is plastic-free soon.
