BIT students sell newspapers at Circular Road for their green crusade in Ranchi. Telegraph picture

Ranchi, April 21: Prudent minds are planning a planet green.

A bunch of 35 students from BIT-Mesra (Lalpur extension) has embarked on an ambitious mission to teach the capital baby steps to promote the global principle of 3Rs — reduce, recycle and reuse.

The green crusaders are visiting every household, urging residents to donate newspapers, which will be sold to buy saplings to give the city a green lung. The unique campaign has been initiated under the banner of Wake Up India Foundation — a non-government organisation formed and run by the students of this elite cradle.

So far, 233kg of paper and other recyclable material have been collected from places like Dhurwa, Doranda, Lalpur and Kantatoli. Each kilogram of paper can be sold for Rs 6 in the market while a sapling from government nurseries costs Re 1. The drive began on March 27 and will continue till Sunday.

The plantation programme will begin in the first week of May, after semester exams at BIT-Mesra. Initially, 300 saplings will be planted on two school campuses — DAV, Bariatu, and DAV, Nandraj — while road dividers in Lalpur and Dhurwa will also get a green facelift.

Suyash Verma, a BIT-Mesra student and founder of Wake Up India Foundation, maintained that one did not need to think of ambitious activities to make a difference to the society. “Doing simple things can help you achieve your desired goal,” he said, adding that they chanced upon the novel idea when they saw reams of paper being wasted in this age of computers.

“Be it offices, homes or market places —paper abuse is rampant everywhere. Paper is an eco-friendly item and should be recycled and reused instead of being wasted. So, we decided to start collecting newspapers, which are dumped by almost every household and business establishment,” Suyash said.

He pointed out that the benefit would be twofold — one, the capital would get its much-needed green makeover; and two, the trees can later be used to produce more paper.

Suyash’s Mesra mates said they were receiving a good response. “Initially, many refused to comply with our requests, but we did not give up. Persuasion yielded results. People are now very supportive towards our cause,” said Shishir, PRO of the students’ body.

He added that it was also great learning experience for them. “We have learnt to interact in a divergent society where mindsets vary from one household to another. Wish we could give more time to our campaign.”