DINDIGUL: Who says that cricket is only about bats, balls and 22 people providing entertainment using them? This edition of the Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL) has already set a precedent of sorts for water conservation, making use of a sewage treatment plant for maintaining the outfield at NPR College ground, the designated venue in Dindigul. That apart, the tournament has also taken another green step in a very pertinent domain: combating plastic pollution.
That the topic has been of relevance since the start of this year — when the Tamil Nadu government initiated the plastic ban — doesn’t really need any buttressing. And Sharon Ply, which moved up the ladder from backing just one team to becoming one of the tournament sponsors this season, has set the ball rolling.
As a part of its corporate social responsibility initiative, the company has put in place one plastic-bottle-shredding each at both the TNPL venues in Dindigul and Tirunelveli.
Made by W2W Enterprises, a manufacturer based in Madurai, these machines cost `3.5 lakh each. They have been stationed near the food stalls. Alongside them, boards have been placed, which state that each person using that machine will receive a tree sapling in return. Two green birds with one stone, especially for a city where the green cover has taken a hit courtesy bad rainfall.
The shredded plastic is being dispatched to various ancillaries, where it will be used as raw material for manufacturing a variety of products — from recycled plastic bottles to bags, even jeans.
“We’ve already piloted one of these machines at the food court of Express Avenue Mall in Chennai, and the response we got for that was good,” explained N Dakshinamoorthy, a senior manager with the company. “When we got on board as one of the event sponsors, we pitched the idea of having this machine at the district venue to Tamil Nadu Cricket Association. It’s at such places where initiatives like this can be implemented to good effect. They agreed instantly.”
And the crowd in Dindigul has warmed up to this idea, with a sizeable number from the audience flocking to the machine on match-days. Apart from the sapling incentive in itself catalysing the footfall for this machine, the novelty factor that the shredder brings to this venue has drawn even more people to it. “After the TNPL we plan to locate these machines at public places. One will be installed near the main bus stand in Coimbatore,” remarked Dakshinamoorthy.
These machines aren’t the only step taken by TNPL to reduce the use of plastic. Even the flexiboards used for promoting the tournament — not to mention the other paraphernalia for doing the same — have been made with fabric, which cost two and a half times more as compared to their plastic counterparts.
After reading all this, would you still be inclined to think that cricket is only about bats, balls, and 22 people doing entertaining things with them?
Dindigul win
Riding N Jagadeesan’s 87, Dindigul Dragons beat Madurai Panthers by 30 runs at ICL grounds in Tirunelveli on Monday.
Brief scores: Dindigul 182/6 in 20 ovs (Jagadeesan 87 n.o, Nishanth 57) bt Madurai 152/9 in 20 ovs .