By Radhika Tiwari
Can you imagine wearing a t-shirt made of plastic?
Most of us would say no as it sounds next to impossible to turn something as hard and chemically poisonous as plastic into comfy shirts, jeans, shoes, caps or bags.
However, this day last year (18th of March 2018) many such myths were shattered as the world saw its first ever ‘Global Recycling Day’, which meant to help recognise, and celebrate, the importance recycling plays in preserving our precious primary resources and securing the future of our planet.
Celebrating the go-green day meant collecting household plastic wastes, segregating and sending them for recycling. And as a direct result of its success, the Global Recycling Foundation was born in October 2018 and March 18, officially announced as the day to spread awareness about plastic-waste segregation.
Putting in its own similar efforts on a national level, Bisleri India has initiated a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR ) programme — ‘Bottles for Change’ to create awareness amongst all citizens about waste segregation, recycling of plastic and best practices towards cleaner environment. Shreya Sudhir from OSR Team of Bisleri International Pvt Ltd told UNI, “ The problem is not plastic, but irresponsible human behaviour while its disposal. If disposed sensibly, it can actually do well to the environment.”
Outside of Mumbai, the Indian beverage company collaborated with Indian Institute of technology (IIT), Roorkee and installed 16 ‘Bottles for Change’ bins at its premises. Why schools first? “The reason we choose schools and institutes like IITs is that the students will carry these ideas from here to wherever they will go,” Ms Shreya said.
Plastic Industry in India accounts for nearly 3.10 per cent of India’s total export and employs about four million people at a net worth of Rs 11,000 crore. It is no wonder that the corporate setups nowadays see a huge potential in the industry.
Till now, Bisleri has recycled up to 3,800 tonnes of plastics and uplifted the lives of about 2,000 ragpickers in Mumbai alone. A BFC Green Agent shared her experience, “Unlike earlier we do not have to put our hands into dirt. Here at Bisleri we only deal with clean wastes.” It has also partnered with three Non-Governmental Organisations and state civic bodies like Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) which collects clean plastic wastes from people’s doorsteps.
It was also pointed out that other than the usual plastics that we throw away, the most difficult to collect are the multi-layered ones. Multi-layer plastic wastes include chocolate, shampoo and noodle pouches.
Some of the lesser known facts about plastic-recycling is that it conserves natural resources, saves landfill space, reduces CO2 emission, preserves flora and fauna, along with creating jobs.
