The Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) has launched ‘Punch the Plastic’, a campaign, on the event of World Sustainability Day, to deploy a new method to collect clean and dry plastic packaging for recycling options such as pyrolysis.

Pyrolysis is a method of decomposition that is done in high temperatures. To facilitate this, a sustainable campus collective has been formed by students, faculty, and staff of IIT Madras. The drive is to raise awareness among the campus residents on waste segregation, minimizing water and energy usage.

Highlighting the importance of these initiatives, Prof Ligy Philip, Dean (Planning) elaborated about institute initiatives in Wastewater recycling and a proposed bio-methanation plant for food waste.

Addressing the launch event, Prof Indumathi Nambi, Faculty Advisor, Sustainable Campus Collective, IIT Madras, said, “The Sustainability Drive aims at making IIT Madras a truly sustainable campus in three aspects – zero waste campus, low carbon and low water footprint. The drive takes into its fold hostels, academic zones, residential zones, places of worship, shops and schools. It encourages all students, staff, faculty, residents, school kids, supporting contract workers to voluntarily participate and make it successful.”

Through the Punch the Plastic Drive, packaging plastic such as snack packets and thin plastics from food delivery executives which are non-recyclable are collected through two models of simple hook device to collect clean and dry plastic packaging to send them to recycling options like pyrolysis.

With the campus seeing a good number of monkeys, Monkey Proof Food Waste Dustbin Hackathon has been introduced where the best design will get funding for further prototyping and testing sponsored by Carbon Zero Challenge 2022. Besides, sustainability Champions Contest, an action and awareness on sustainability to all campus residents is planned through a sustainability contest to select the sustainable champions of residential, academic and hostel zones. 

Also read: eGovernments Foundation partners with IIT Madras Alumni Association