According to the government’s data 100 schools are engaged in the vermi-composting while 80 schools have developed in herbal garden in their premises with the help of students.

“Paper recycling has been the most favourite activity for the school as it help them to manage solid waste in a better way and promote recycle and reuse of the waste paper in an efficient manner. On the other hand it also help to save our environment by saving tree through promotion of reuse and recycle of waste paper”, says Delhi’s Environment Secretary Dharmendra. At present, 200 schools are promoting recycling of waste paper through their eco-clubs in the capital city, he adds.

There are other activities like ‘rainwater harvesting, solar water heating system, e-waste collection system, environment friendly bags and others too have been promoted through eco clubs in the city.

12000 Eco-clubs have been constituted in Madhya Pradesh followed by Maharashtra with 8898 clubs and Bihar with 8473 clubs. Chandigarh has minimum number of such clubs. Only 115 clubs have in constituted in schools. Delhi has 1874 such clubs.

The idea behind formation of such clubs is to make aware students and educational community about our environment, ecology and its preservation. Schools and students are encourage to take part in activities like green drive, plantation of sapling, environment friendly campaign and other events through the campaign.

According to the Chief Minister the city administration is trying to ensure only re-cycled papers, stationery and material be used during Commonwealth Games. This would be applicable in respects of functions, events and offices. She was speaking at a
function to celebrate International Day for the preservation of the Ozone Layer organized by Environment Department at Delhi Secretariat

Praising schoolchildren she said “Our school children in Delhi have proved beyond any doubt that they can bring a positive change as they are fit enough to work as a catalyst force. They have rendered substantial contribution in making Delhi green, overcoming pollution and are now concentrating on ban on plastic bags”.

Dikshit also gave away prizes to the students who were participated in various competitions on this occasion. Eco-club students present songs on environmental issues.

The Chief Minister exhorted everyone to work together to make an eco-friendly world and told people to conserve all natural resources as these are not going to last for ever.

‘Kids for Green-Clean Delhi’ focuses on fun-learning and hands-on environment workshops for school children. The aim is to capture the imagination of the children and build their enthusiasm through fun-filled activities and practical projects within the school premises. A competition for school children was held at Delhi’s India Habitat Centre also present were Principals of various schools and children participating in the program. 7500 children from 150 participating schools competed in three categories- dance/drama/song; as well as poster painting and declamation on ‘What I can do to keep Delhi Green and Clean’.

The e-waste includes useless computers, mobile, monitors and other electronic gadgets. Mumbai, Delhi, Banglore, Kolkata, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Pune, Surat and Nagpur are top ten cities generating electronic waste in the country.

Dikshit also lauded role of people in making Delhi a pollution-free city upto some extent. She called upon people to concentrate more on conservation of natural resources, as our efforts have not yet reached the peak.

About 2000 eco-clubs in the city are participating in this Annual Eco-meet. NGOs/corporate bodies also set up their stalls along with schools and colleges depicting different aspects of the environment. Many students along with their eco-club teachers have been putting regular hard work in creating their colourful stalls and showcasing their contribution to the environment.

The themes of paper recycling, making Delhi a clean and green city, rain water harvesting, solar energy, air, water and noise pollution, and climate change were the issues on which the students and teachers showed their genuine concerns. Exhibition is being prepared on this occasion with the themes of Solid Waste Management, Promotion of recycled paper, Bio-diversity, Air pollution, Water Pollution, Energy & Water Conservation and Climate Change.

Stressing upon the need of utilization of recycled paper she said that practice may help in saving around 40,000 trees in a year. She also underlined the need of making mandatory use of recycled papers in business houses

Secretary (Environment) Dharmendra Kumar informed the students about the scheme of Eco-club in schools and colleges. He said that to make more effective and action oriented, the department has initiated a programme called vacation programme for the eco-club students since last six years. Under the scheme, 80 students (40 from govt. schools and 40 from pvt. schools) selected through a competitive process. These children were trained for 10 days in Delhi during winter vacation and 5 days out side Delhi during summer vacation.

It is notable that these Eco-Clubs have played an important role to increase green area in Delhi and to make successful campaigns like anti fire-crackers, say no to plastic bags, rain water harvesting and several other campaigns related to better and green environment in the city. These Eco-clubs were started in 1998 with a participation of 100 schools. Now the number of such schools having their eco-clubs has been increased by 25 times. There about 2500 Eco-Clubs in the schools and colleges. About 100 colleges and educational institutions too have been included in this category over a period of time.

Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit has been interacting with the representatives and member students of Eco-Clubs regularly and discusses several issue about the environment. This time the role of these Eco-Clubs have become more important as Delhi is organizing Commonwealth Games this year.