Amritanandamayi hails PM's campaign against single-use plastic

: Spiritual leader Mata Amritanandamayi on Thursday welcomed the campaign launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi against single-use plastic and sought active public support for the initiative.

In a statement, Amritanandamayi, affectionately called Amma by her devotees, said the Amritanandamayi Math has already started phasing out single-use plastics in all its institutions.

"We should all support the Prime Minister's campaign. Mother Nature has only ever shown us love and compassion, while we have just stomped all over her and kicked her in the chest. Now she has fallen ill.

If we don't mend our ways and recycle and stop being wasteful, she will have no choice but to eventually react," she said in her message.

She said her Math's endeavour to phase out single-use plastics was a continuation of its ongoing environmental programmes, including tree planting, toilet construction for the poor, cleaning public spaces, and a new project, Amritavanam, for creating 'compact forests' in urban spaces.

Modi, while speaking at the 'Swachh Bharat Diwas' programme on Mahatma Gandhi's 150th birth anniversary at Ahmedabad on Wednesday, had said plastic was a major threat to the environment and the country has to achieve the goal to eradicate single-use plastic by 2022.

Single-use plastics include carry bags, food packaging, bottles, straws, containers, cups and cutlery.