Students with No Horn placards in front of the school. (Sanjoy Chattopadhyaya)

A student’s letter has set La Martiniere for Girls on a mission to ban plastic on campus, wash trees in the vicinity and make the area a “no-horn” zone in the morning and afternoon.

In the vanguard of the green movement are the members of a students’ body of the school, called Nature’s Club.

The school has asked vendors not to distribute books in plastic bags and students to stand at the gate to prevent anyone from entering the campus with plastic bags.

Student officers of the club also conduct surprise checks in classes to ensure no one is violating the plastic ban.

Principal Hilda Peacock announced the ban last week following a letter from a student highlighting the ill-effects of plastic. “The principal announced that students and their family members would have to carry their own cloth or paper bags to carry the books. The vendors have been asked not give books in plastic bag,” said Baruna Roy Chowdhury, the club’s teacher-coordinator.

Among the other activities of the club are watering trees on Rawdon Street, clearing the school playground of litter after the lunch break and urging motorists and car drivers not to blow horn in front of the school. “From 7.40 to 8am and again from 1.20 to 1.45pm, when students are dropped or picked up, club members stand on the road with the placards,” said Roy Chowdhury.

The students have joined hands with NGOs such as the PUBLIC to scrape off posters from buildings, pick up plastic items from the Maidan and demonstrate in front of shops that violate environmental norms.