thus: Sannidhamam: 1800 Tonnes of Waste from Sannidhanam alone; No Provision for Plastic Incinerators till Date

Sabarimala: In the midst of glaring environmental issues tormenting the beautiful planet, the woes of the sacred and ecologically sensitive area of Sabarimala stand no less. The place is now littered with plastic wastes, with the pile mounting to mammoth proportions.
There is no solution in sight with the pile mounting up, with absolutely no provision in getting rid of them in a congenial way.

Sources have revealed that the end of a pilgrim season sees as much as 1800 tonnes of waste, collected solely from the Sannidhanam alone. Out of this, 1000 tonnes are burnt away. In the remaining section, left over food forms 500 tonnes, which is buried. What remains is 300
tonnes, out of which plastic wastes form 120 tonnes. Bottles form a major part of the same.

According to a study conducted four years ago, the number of plastic bottles recovered from the Sannidhanam alone stood upto 16 lakh plastic bottles. Going by this report, there should be atleast 80 lakh plastic bottles at the Sannidhanam alone. The contents indicate drinking water and cool drinks.

Earlier, the Devaswom Board had made provisions in doing away with these wastes systematically, by appointing people to do the task. It was later handed over to agencies.

The horrifying truth that faces the ecologically sensitive zone is that till date, there is no provision to incinerate the plastic wastes. This has led to those taking up the tender backing away from the task assigned.

Even the road to Sabarimala is not free from plastic wastes. Even though the route is cleared by officials of forest department, no one takes pains in venturing into the forest interiors, the place which is equally littered. It is a common practice among those lacking civic sense, to hurl empty bottles into forest interiors as they pass by the area. Even though volunteers are set up at various corners, a large number of bottles fall into water bodies and make way into the river. With the river tide being heavy, it is difficult to retrieve bottles from them.