the fifth estate

10

SCALABILITY/ REPLICABILITY

HCL

Grant

Recipient

Environment,

2023

Plastics in water bodies suffocate marine

animals and get entangled in fishing nets;

they enter our bodies through eating fish.

Water hyacinth, an invasive species, has

infested water bodies including Vembanad

Lake in Kerala, hampering inland water

transport, and marginal fishermen’s

livelihood, as well growth of native marine

species of flora and fauna. e DROP

Project ropes in the local fisherfolk and their

vessels to help with both these issues. ey

help remove the plastics from ocean to be

recycled; and the weed can be removed too,

which is then converted into briquettes to be

used as solid fuel. Both these interventions

can happen in any harbour and water body,

and thus the Project is very replicable.

Plan@Earth

HCLTech Grant Project:

Recover and Recycle Plastic from Ocean and Protect Water

Bodies from Water Hyacinth Infestation by Manufacturing Briquettes.

• Working in 45 villages in 4

districts of Kerala

• The income from sale of

briquettes goes back into the

project to run the workers’

collective that operates the unit

• Converting water hyacinth to

biomass briquettes is a first for

India and the first time in the

world on an industrial scale