Students in Indore collect plastic waste to make statue of APJ Kalam

Students of the APJ Abdul Kalam University in Indore will make a statue of the former President from plastic waste that they are collecting from local shops and dumping yards.

Students of the APJ Abdul Kalam University in Indore will make a statue of the former President from plastic waste that they are collecting from local shops and dumping yards.

The students plan to unveil Kalam’s statue on the World Environment Day on June 5.(File Photo)

The students plan to unveil the statue on the World Environment Day on June 5 to send a message to the society. Also, their plan is to grab a spot in the Limca Book of Records.

“We wanted to do our bit and follow the thoughts of our idol Dr APJ Abdul Kalam. It has been more than a month now that we are collecting plastic bags from markets and dumping yards,” said Nihal Manwatkar, a third year mechanical engineering student.

The group of 12 students from pharmacy and engineering streams also educates people about the harmful effects of polythene on environment.

“Polythene pollution negatively affects health of humans, animals and plants but unfortunately, not much is being done to control it in Indore,” said Manwatkar.

The students’ decision came at a time when the university is planning to set up a Kalam’s statue. A special class was arranged by the college where these students put forth their idea.

“Our vice chancellor Deepika Pathak told us that the idea was quite noble but would require a lot of guidance. It was then that we started going for special classes wherein the net amount of plastic was calculated to build a statue,” said Shivani Mali, another student at the institute.

The students collect plastic waste from 9am to 4pm daily. “Dr Kalam talked about innovation, and hence, we did not want to invest so much metal for a statue. The idea of recycled materials then came,” she said.