Srija Makes Pots From Groundnut Shells in Zilla Parishad High School
Every year the students of the Zilla Parishad High School in Chintalkunta, Gadwal district, Telangana State, India, participate in a drive to plant trees around the school. These seedling are usually grown in plastic bags.
In March 2020, when Srija A, a class 9 student of the school was digging the soil to plant a sapling, she found a plastic bag after having dug a few feet underground.
Srija know the bad consequences about the plastic for the environment, “I immediately realised this was from one of the earlier sapling-drives. I did not want this to continue every year so I started to think of a sustainable solution to raise seedlings.”
After a few months of research, the 14-year-old innovated a biodegradable planter made from groundnut shell pulp. Here’s how she got her entire school to stop using plastics for tree-plantation drives.
Srija with her ecologic pot. Photo The Better India
Groundnut cultivation is prevalent in the Gadwal district, and young Srija knew that the shells are agro-waste, and she could use them .
“Usually, the shells are ground into a powder and used as an energy source or made into a pulp and used as manure. With help from my mentor and Math teacher, Augustien P, I learnt that the shells are rich in phosphorus and calcium,” says Srija.
Since groundnuts grow on the upper-most layer of the soil, it can retain water and disintegrate slowly.
“But my first attempt was unsuccessful as the planter was too fragile,” says Srija, adding that she approached her mentor for help.
Srija making the planters. Photo The Better India
Professor Augustien helped Srija make a stronger planter by adding some “extra natural ingredients”, without disclosing the details.
“Once, the planter was sturdy enough, Srija added some soil and planted a neem sapling into it. We buried it underground at school and monitored it regularly to determine how long it would take to disintegrate,” says Augustien, adding that it took less than 20 days.
Srija was awarded a Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) Innovation award, under the innovation by school students category, in September 2020, for coming up with a sustainable solution for eliminate the use of plastic,
Subsequently, her idea was also validated by the T-Works, Telangana, who offered a prototype design for machinery that can help Srija increase production capacity.
Groundnut Shells Pots
“I have been making five to six planters every day by hand and have successfully planted 80 saplings. But, with the machinery, I can increase production capacity and make 10,000 planters by July 2021,” says Srija.
Augustien says that even for future sapling drives that the school will conduct, they will be sourcing planters from Srija.
Reference https://www.thebetterindia.com
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