In a classic example of how a joint effort can usher in change, the incessant efforts of a small group of people has ensured that the recently concluded Malayattoor pilgrimage followed the green protocol. This effort, in association with the district Suchithwa Mission and the Forest Department, could see the drastic reduction in plastic waste.
A team of four friends, Shine Varghese, Gopu Kesavan, Biju P and Dr Manoj, a researcher in waste management, who persuaded state authorities to implement the green protocol at the National Games in 2015, are behind this step as well.
In 2015 itself, they met the priests of the Syro Malabar Church, to which the pilgrimage is associated.
“In the initial period, when we first met them in 2015, they were not convinced at all. In 2017, we presented a letter from K Vasuki, the former director of the State Suchitwa Mission, who was instrumental in implementing the green protocol at the National Games. The priests then began supporting the idea. What more, the church spent Rs 30 lakh to make drinking water available on top of the hill, so that plastic bottles can be avoided,” Shine Varghese says.
