A 14-year-old girl makes biodegradable plant pots

Srija is in 9th standard and studies at Zilla Parishad High School in Chintal Kunta Gadwal district Telangana. In this School, students participate in an annual sapling planting drive. The initiative taken by the school is very appreciable. School even encourages students to plant a tree on the occasion of their birthdays. They planted seedlings around the school but the use of plastic bags was where the seedlings used to grow.

She realized that the use of plastic bags was not environmentally- friendly and soon started to think of a sustainable solution for growing the seedlings. She did the research for it and after a few months finally she invented a solution; a biodegradable planter pot that was made from groundnut shell pulp. With this initiative, the entire School stopped using plastic bags. Groundnut cultivation is prevalent in the Gadwal district. She was aware that these grounded shells are being referred to as agricultural waste but still they can be used to make plant pots. She said,” usually the shells that are grounded are made into a Pulp and used as a manure. With the help from my mentor and Math teacher, I learned that the shells are rich in Phosphorus and Calcium.”

After this, an idea came into her mind. She started making pots at home using the types of equipment she had but starting attempts were not successful. Still, she did not give up, she talked to her mentors and finally, all hard work paid off. She was awarded the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research innovation award in September 2020. Her idea was also justified by the T- Works of Telangana and they offered her proper machinery to increase the capacity of production. Till now, she has successfully planted 80 saplings.

From this young girl, we all must think ‘where there is a will, there is a way’. Always orient our mind and activities towards the environment-friendly things through which we will be able to save our environment for the upcoming generations. Let’s make Mother Earth a beautiful abode. Let this be our ultimate aim.

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