In a bid to spread awareness about reducing the use of plastic in stadiums, fans of six IPL teams will be conducting a meeting which will explore ways to reduce the use of plastic
Hyderabad: The fans of the Indian Premier League (IPL) teams will converge in Hyderabad on the sidelines of Sunday's (May 12) summit clash, for a social cause — to spread awareness on reducing the use of plastic in stadiums.
Representatives of the fans associations of six IPL franchises will hold a round table conference in Hyderabad, leading to the signing of 'Hyderabad Declaration' on plastic waste management at sports venues.
The event is being organised by the International Institute of Waste Management (IIWM), a non-profit organisation that is supported by European Union Resource Efficiency Initiative.
"After every cricket match, about 4 to 4.5 tonnes of wastes (about 130 grams per spectator) is left behind in the stands. The stands are littered with single use material like paper and plastic cups, leftover food, packaging items like cardboard, plastic and spoons, forks, tissues and most importantly flags and cheer items," the organisation said in a release.
The release further stated, "About 40% of this waste is single use plastic material, which pose great danger to the environment as these materials remain in the nature without degrading for long years (some more than 100 yrs).”
IIWM has been implementing a project called Green Wicket since 2012 which has helped in creating Bengaluru’s M Chinnaswamy Stadium the first Green Cricket Stadium in the world.
The stadium has all the four eco-infrastructure in place — solar PV, rainwater harvesting, waste water recycling and biogas plant for solid waste management, the IIWM said.
As an extension to the Green Wicket project, another initiative called 'Plastic Waste Clean Bowled' began in Bengaluru for the IPL matches with the objective of reducing the single use material and reduce littering.
"If the spectators help in segregating the waste, this source segregation will increase the recycling capacity. It is interesting to note that the cricket matches also create entrepreneurship for recyclers," said Bineesha P, executive director, IIWM.
She said this initiative will be extended to other stadia which will host sports like football, badminton, kabaddi in the coming months.
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