While Shillong, as most of Meghalaya today face an ugly garbage crisis with only Marten the designated landfill site in the outskirts of the city, none of the towns have proper waste collection and disposable system in place.
Plastic wastes form a large chunk of the trash in the State. This is because plastic bottles are ubiquitous. They are cheap, convenient, and lightweight—but once the beverage or chips inside has been consumed, the bottle and the wrappers are typically tossed into the trash. The landfill is then glutted with mountains of plastic bottles and the State government has been trying in vain to set up a waste recycling plant.
Though a ban was imposed on September 1, 2019 by the State government on use of plastic cups, spoons/forks, straws, bags, folders, plastic wrapped bouquets, plastic water bottles and Styrofoam in government offices and events and even signed a deal with a cement company to reuse plastic waste as fuel replacement for coal to make building bricks, these have not been enough to make a dent in the growing tonnage of discarded plastic ends up in rivers, streams and drains.
The success story, however, is that of a village dorbar who successfully constructed an “Operation House” made of plastic bottles with the support of the District Project Management Unit (DPMU)–Community-Led Landscape Management Project (CLLMP), Ri Bhoi.
This operation house is the office of to the Village Natural Resource Management Committee (VMC) of Mawkyrdep village in Ri Bhoi which was built keeping in mind the “3Rs” principle of reducing waste, reusing and recycling resources and products.
Sharing this success story with Highland Post, the Meghalaya Basin Management Agency said the office is an exemplary example of making the best use out of waste, thereby contributing to a sustainable environment and better living.
The innovative idea of setting up this house was introduced by the headman of Mawkyrdep Jibansius Ramshon along with the staff of CLLMP Ri Bhoi, Van Shanborlang Buhphang, the District Project Manager and Ebrinson Synnah, Field Engineer.
This house was built at Rs 2.24 lakh (Rs 1 lakh contributed by the village and Rs 1.24 lakh by CLLMP) mainly with plastic waste like bottles, packets of chips, and other related products that were collected by various village community facilitators of CLLMP in just three months time. The construction project started August 11, 2021 and was completed on November 20, 2021.
“Usually what is required for building a house are bricks. But in this operation, plastic bottles filled with plastic waste were used to build walls. In this manner, it makes construction cheaper and more affordable,” the agency said, adding, “If we think that those who build such buildings are just environmentalists and eccentrics, that’s not the only point. There are so many benefits that we get from these plastic bottles building.”
Pointing out that such buildings are bulletproof and earthquake-resistant due to fact that such bottles are compact with different materials like plastic waste and this compressed material makes the bottle more resistant and stronger the agency said that this house is proven to be weather resistant where it can withstand storms, heavy rains, and temperatures exceeding up to 45 degrees Celsius.
Keeping in mind that plastic waste if thrown away recklessly takes years to decompose, the village have not only made use of plastic bottles and packets in the construction of the operation house but found a way to solve the plastic menace in the village.
