Singapore: Once there was a dirty bit of sea next to the world's busiest port here. Today it is an island where birds nest and people play, though the entire island is made of rubbish. You wouldn't know unless you were told. There's no sight or smell at Semakau landfill to indicate it is the last depository of Singapore's garbage. The corals and all the animals of the beach have been fooled too

Waste plastic products should not be treated as threats to our environment. A proper system to recycle these products and efforts at extracting fuel from them may turn these waste products into invaluable assets, said Amarjyoti Kashyap president of the non-Government organisation (NGO) Environ. This is very significant in these days of growing threats of scarcity and rising price of fossil fuel. Besides, there is also the angle of environment pollution, which can be tackled better with the use of plastic fuel and application of a safe technology to extract fuel from plastic.

FROM EMPOWERING THE GIRL CHILD TO RECYCLING ITEMS DISCARDED BY URBAN SCHOOLS

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The Canadian plastic industry is lashing out at growing movement to eliminate plastic shopping bags, saying that an outright ban could cause more environmental harm than good. "I think, generally speaking, there was always a kind of anti-plastic sentiment out there, Serge Lavoie, president and CEO of the Canadian Plastics Industry Association, said on Wednesday. "We're a high-profile target."

As chemical fertilisers are causing gradual degradation of soil, huge wastes generated from human and animal excreta, and household rubbish should be turned into natural manure by using efficient technologies to protect soil and environment. Besides, to prevent rivers around the urban centres from getting polluted, management of wastes is also very important as such polluted water enters the food chain causing serious diseases.

The City District Government has picked lush green fields and fertile land in the close vicinity of hundreds of houses near Saggian Bypass to establish municipal solid waste transfer station, but the Environment Department declared the project as unsuitable on number of grounds including the concerns shown by the residents of the area.

The already delayed project of a door-to-door collection of city's solid waste has suffered yet another setback as the Chinese firm, which had signed an agreement with the city government, has expressed its reservations over investing $230 million in view of the country's fragile political and law and order situation. Sources told Dawn that the overall political situation and the steps taken by the provincial government for the control of the water utility and the KBCA had compelled the Chinese firm to review its decision of investing in the project.

Corlim panchayat conducted

Cortalim MLA and Deputy Speaker Mauvin Godinho has urged residents from Cortalim to work together to make the constituency free of plastic. Addressing the panchayat body, Mr Godinho unveiled his new ambitious task and directed all the five panchas to work together to keep their constituency free of plastic. Mr Godniho has decided to launch the plastic drive campaign on May 24 at 10.30 am with the main function at Cansaulim, near T B Cunha sports complex.