Earth Day campaigns this year to focus on waste management

Earth Day on April 22 this year will be marked with innovative campaigns and contests promoting recycling, upcycling, renewables and waste management, and as many as 45 cities in India are gearing up for it, an organiser said on Wednesday.

"Earth Day commemorations are now held all across India. This year marks the 45th anniversary of Earth Day, and our programmes will focus on the global Earth Day slogan 'It's Our Turn to Lead'. Our endeavour will be for a green India," said Earth Day Network Country Director India Karuna Singh.

She said the 'GREEN - It's Our Turn to Lead' campaign has been launched in 45 major cities of India to encourage citizens to participate and compete towards making their city clean and green.

Entries are rolling in for a variety of contests, Singh said.

"People in Chennai plan to clean up streets. In Pune, they've begun planting trees. 'Clean and Green Taj' is the goal of groups working around the Taj Mahal. NGOs in Srinagar will work with administrators to regulate traffic," Singh said.

In addition, strategies to make schools environment-friendly and engaging youth to step up the measures are part of this year's celebrations.

"To reach out to consumers across India, we're running a contest among advertising agencies to produce campaigns related to waste management, one of the major problems in India cities, in collaboration with Advertising Club Calcutta."

"We've announced an inter-media school competition across India for the best short videos on the Earth Day theme," Singh said.

This year, the National Council of Science Museums centre in eastern India will include a competition for students to develop gadgets that run on renewable energies, Singh announced.

The high point will be the launch of the second volume of 'Pathways to Green Cities: Innovative Ideas from Urban India' eBook which showcases how citizens in different cities have used innovative strategies to make their cities more sustainable with better resources and transport management, cleaner energies and reduced pollution.

Recycling and upcycling are featured prominently in the book, Singh said. Upcycling is particular form of recycling that involves turning waste material or an unwanted product into a better quality product.