Kolkata: Two-time Indian Premier League champions Kolkata Knight Riders has been trying hard to minimize pollution during its Indian Premier League matches at the Eden Gardens.
The initiatives by KKR began with the ‘Plant a 6’ activity where for every six that was hit during the games a tree was planted in Kolkata. Last year during the IPL matches the entire waste generated at the Eden Gardens was segregated, collected and disposed in an environment-friendly manner, maximizing recycle, rather than dumping in landfill. Overall, out of the total generated segregated waste of 20606 kg, around 19173 kg could be successfully recycled and a mere 6.8% was sent to the landfill.
To celebrate KKR’s efforts towards effectively managing waste at Eden and on the occasion of ‘Earth Day, the KKR management today unveiled an installation put up at Eden Gardens which is created entirely by recycled waste. Present at the unveiling event at Eden Gardens were, Mrs. Juhi Chawla Mehta, Mr. Venky Mysore, Head coach KKR – Jacques Kallis and Asst coach KKR – Simon Katich.
KKR’s co-owner, Mrs. Juhi Chawla Mehta, who leads the environmental initiatives for the franchise, said, “Our aim is to reduce waste as much as possible and continuing with our efforts from last year, this year we have enlisted the help of our sponsors by banning the use of plastic cheer items in the stadium. Efforts are being made to reduce usage of plastic bags as well which have been replaced by cloth bags during the matches. With the help of the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB), an Organic Waste Converter (OWC) provided by Reddonatura, one of the foremost players in the area of integrated waste management and food waste solutions has been installed at Eden Gardens for the duration of the IPL matches.”
Mr, Venky Mysore, MD & CEO KKR, said, “This is our way to give back to the society and fans for all the love we have received in the city. KKR has always been conscious of the footprint we leave on the environment and have made dedicated efforts towards it. Infact we were also able to garner support of the community members to help with the recycling efforts and almost 80% of the waste has been reused and recycled and the rest was given to licensed recyclers.”
The OWC (Organic Waste Converter) converts the wet waste generated into compost, which will then be used in the Eden grounds. As per the Waste Audit Report generated for the first 3 matches by Vital Waste, a leading recycling and waste management company in Kolkata a total of 1900 kgs of organic waste has been converted to compost. All the other waste generated such as paper and cardboard(4000 kgs), plastic (1,650 kgs) and metal (550 kgs) has also been collected, segregated and recycled appropriately thus reducing the methane and carbon-dioxide emissions in the landfills.
The emission avoidance was further complimented by the consistent tree planting activity, where one tree was planted for every six hit during the 2017 matches at Eden. A total of 75 trees were planted in the Nalban Park area with the help of local school students. When these trees grow up, each of them will potentially sequester upto 20 kg of carbon dioxide yearly from the City’s air.