Thiruvananthapuram: Spiritual leader Mata Amritanandamayi welcomed the campaign launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi against single-use plastic and sought active public support for the initiative.

According to a statement released by Amritanandamayi Math, efforts have been undertaken at all the institutions run by the organization to phase out single-use plastic with immediate effect.

"We should all support the Prime Minister's campaign. Mother Nature has only ever shown us love and compassion, while we have just stomped all over her and kicked her in the chest. Now she has fallen ill.

If we don't mend our ways and recycle and stop being wasteful, she will have no choice but to eventually react," Amritanandamayi, fondly called Amma, said in her message.

She said her Math's endeavour to phase out single-use plastics was a continuation of its ongoing environmental programmes, including tree planting, toilet construction for the poor, cleaning public spaces, and a new project, Amritavanam, for creating 'compact forests' in urban spaces.

Plastic waste is at epidemic proportions in the world's oceans with an estimated 100 million tonnes dumped there to date, according to the United Nations. Scientists have found large amounts of microplastic in the intestines of deep-dwelling ocean mammals like whales.

India, which uses about 14 million tonnes of plastic annually, lacks an organised system for management of plastic waste, leading to widespread littering.

Modi, while speaking at the 'Swachh Bharat Diwas' programme on Mahatma Gandhi's 150th birth anniversary at Ahmedabad on Wednesday, had said plastic was a major threat to the environment and the country has to achieve the goal to eradicate single-use plastic by 2022.

Single-use plastics include carrying bags, food packaging, bottles, straws, containers, cups and cutlery.

(With inputs from PTI)