Say no to plastic: GNIDA

Greater Noida: Aiming to make Greater Noida a plastic free zone, the Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority (GNIDA), Saturday, organised an awareness campaign at main markets of the city to encourage shopkeepers and other people to refrain from using polythene bags. The authority has already organised similar drives at schools, colleges, residential societies and RWAs of the city.

As per a Senior GNIDA officer, the 'say no to plastic' drive has been initiated keeping in mind the upcoming 150th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. "The authority has been putting efforts and organising 'Nukkad-Natak' as well as other similar activities to encourage people not to use plastic" the officer said.

Even as plastics have become an important part and parcel of modern day life, the flip side is that plastics are non-biodegradable and can persist in environment for decades causing soil pollution and choking water bodies thereby having numerous detrimental effects on environment especially single use plastics.

Stray animals such as cows, buffaloes as well as underwater creatures such as sea birds, fishes etc. are known to gulp plastic mistakenly as their food intake which chokes them to death. Despite these negative impacts, plastic has remained popular because of its ease of use.