Thane society goes on a drastic sweep

Residents of 800 flats of a swish Thane society woke up on Sunday in plastic-free homes, a day after tossing out all sorts of banned plastic items from their lives into a tempo supplied by an NGO which will recycle the trash.

"From senior citizens to four-year-olds, everybody enthusiastically gave away the plastic items," said Ulhas Karle, a resident of Lodha Luxuria at Majiwada.

Karle, who is associated with Samarth Bharat Vyaspeeth NGO, planned the mass cast-off two days ago. He sent out a WhatsApp appeal to residents urging them to discard on Saturday — the day the state enforced the ban – all prohibited items and electronic waste. Even sceptical residents obliged. "We did it in for the society and environment," said Pravin Tulsani, 38, a resident.

On Saturday, the NGO collected over 2,500 kg of plastic bags from Thane and sent it for recycling.