KOCHI: At a time when the ‘Swachh bharat abhiyan’ programme is busy igniting minds about keeping one’s locality clean, the Nithya Sahaya Matha Church, Cheranalloor, had long since taken up the initiative to dispose off plastic waste in effective ways. In what appears to be a collective mission undertaken by the church and the residents close to the church, plastic waste is gathered from the area on the last Sunday of every month. This practice has been followed by the church for 21 months now. “The waste is sent off to the Confideration of Real Estate Developement Association (CREDAI) at Koonammavu where it will be recycled and used for tarring the roads,” says Sabu MC, a resident of Cheranalloor panchayat and a volunteer at the church (see box). Sabu, who is a professor at St Alberts College, says that the programme came into being at one of the church’s jubilee celebrations. “Everyone actively takes part in it and the purpose is ingrained in all of us,” he says. It was first brought to the table by Fr. K. Joji of the parish. “There are 650 houses under the parish and they are divided into 19 units. We took classes for all the people before starting this initiative, so that they could understand why it was important to do this. We also told them to clean the plastic before giving it to us,” said Fr. Joji. Once the parish started doing this, more people from the panchayat joined in. “Now, this is a secular programme where people of different communities come together to eradicate plastic,” says Fr. Joji. Are there any other initiatives that Fr. Joji is meditating upon? “The Cheranalloor panchayat also started similar initiatives by following our example and that makes us happy. Going further, my plan is to offer five saplings of mahogany each to houses that have land to grow them. It will be a great gift to enrich the environment,” he says. Cheranalloor grama panchayat ward member Raju Antony appreciates the efforts of the church but he also raises a concern. “The Cochin Corporation also had plans for plastic disposal. We had announced awareness sessions for people. However, very few people showed up. The church is able to implement this easily as they have a religious authority. Nevertheless, the initiative has to be lauded,” he says.