Old tyres and plastic water bottles are being put to effective use by Dhanbad Municipal Corporation (DMC) to beautify two parks in the coal town.

At Birsa Munda Park in Nawadih, damaged and worn out tyres are being used to create a green zone in the middle of the park with several beautiful flower plants.

At the newly developed park in Bekar Bandh, used water bottles made of plastic are being used to grow plants. A number of such bottles with saplings planted in them decorate the barricade around the park.

Both the innovative projects have been undertaken by the civic body as part of the Swachh Survekshan 2020, ground inspection for which is likely in January.

Such initiatives are an integral part of the pan-India cleanliness survey and help to fetch higher points.

DMC city manager Prem Prakash said: “We have used at least 50 plastic bottles at Bekar Bandh on an experimental basis. All of them are tied with the grille that serves as the park’s boundary.”

Prakash said they were planning to decorate the entire grille barricading the 8-acre park with these plastic bottle-turned-plants pots.

“The park also has a pond that has been recently renovated and beautified by DMC at a cost of Rs 9.72 crore with the installation of laser fountain and extensive gardening work,” Prakash said.

He said it was very easy to grow plants in plastic bottles. “You have to break the bottle in the middle, put some soil and plant a sapling,” he said.

On how old tyres were being made attractive, he said: “They are being painted with colours and put up barricades to create an area to grow flowering plants,” Prakash said.

He said the DMC had just begun the tyre decoration work at Birsa Munda Park and the project, if successful, would be replicated in several other places of the park.

“We will also use plastic water bottles to decorate Birsa Munda Park in the coming days,” Prakash said.