Conventional plantation viable than vertical gardens: Experts

Neha Saini

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Tribune News Service

Amritsar, May 28

Calling out the vertical gardens, being created at various places in the holy city as part of greenification, several environmentalists have termed the concept an unnecessary substitute to conventional plantation. The reported withering of plants at the vertical garden created at the Heritage Street, due to lack of care and maintenance, several other vertical gardens too share the same future, say experts.

“While the generosity of institutions and the good intent of the executors of vertical gardens cannot be discounted, the concept is a high maintenance, and an unnecessary substitute to conventional greenification. There are ample creepers and plants that take root in the ground and create the required foliage way more efficiently than these plastic plastered walls,” said Gunbir Sngh, president, WWF India-Punjab Chapter.

While the concept capitalised on reuse of plastic waste bottles as source of creating green spaces, Singh said that the efficiency of a handful of plants thriving and greenifying with large foliage, versus hundreds in small vessels defies logic in the resource waste that is contained within this new venture.

“The investment of time and resource by people in the initiative is laudable, however their goodness will be better served if the usage of single use plastic is checked, and collection of the recyclable PET bottle waste, among others, is segregated at source with help of concerned citizens and the civic administration. A single manufacturer in India converts 36 crore used PET bottles to polyester staple fibre for exports per month. Others are making PET films, bubble wraps, packaging cartons from this resource and over 70% recycle rate is achieved of entire PET bottles consumed in the country.”

Environmentalists PS Bhatty, who runs an NGO, Khudai Khidmatgaran, and has been organising plantation drives in association with the administration, also shared that the varieties of splalings being planted through vertical garden require research to make it work. “There are plants that do not survive in direct sunlight and need filtered or reflected light. If you plant such varieties in plastic bottles in a vertical garden, how would they survive? Also, the amount of resource being spent on vertical gardens can be directed to plant conventionally as there is no dearth of space,” he said.