Anjana Ghosh, Director, Marketing BisleriWithin a year, the campaign has reached more than five lakh individuals in 14 different wards of Mumbai, Thane and Navi Mumbai. “Helping curb the problem will eventually benefit every individual. So this initiative is all about trying to create a positive thought towards plastic,” explains the director. We want everyone to take responsibility of treating plastic as a valuable resource,” she explains.”Every member of the society is asked to clean plastic after using and keep it separately. The schools and the children supported our concept and collected maximum plastic in a day,” says Anjana China Green Wall planters Ghosh, Director, Marketing and OSR Bisleri. The housekeeping staff is told to collect plastic from every household separately. So far, Anjana’s team has collaborated with over 600 societies, 150 corporates, 200 schools and 400 hotels and restaurants for the campaign. However, Bottles for Change – an initiative by the Bisleri group – has found a solution to utilise the wasted plastics..Apart from keeping it out of landfills, recycling plastic also allows it to be reused in new products. “It is very important to stop dumping, because once the plastic reaches the pit it becomes very difficult to segregate and treat it. Under the initiative, waste plastic bottles are recycled and converted into benches to be placed at public places.As of now, Anjana and her team are working to expand their campaign to other cities like Delhi, Chennai and Bangalore, while they focus to cover maximum areas of Mumbai.There is no natural alternative to plastic, since plastics are used to manufacture a huge number of products we use everyday.”Initially, we introduced the concept to about 200 schools in the city to make the children aware that plastic is valuable and can be recycled. After paper, it is plastic that contributes to the ongoing global environmental crisis, and the situation is worsening with the rise in sea levels. This is why the team is expecting more and more public participation.
We are planning to place recycled benches in public places so that people know about plastic recycling.For over a year, the team has been trying to inculcate the “recycle plastic” thought process in consumers, by reaching out to users and telling them to stop the plastic from turning into waste before it is dumped in the open. “The request is dealt within 24 hours,” she assures. Our agents collect the clean plastic from societies on a weekly basis and directly send it for recycling,” Anjana explains, adding that the residents of Andheri ward can download the Bottles for Change app to reach the nearest plastic agent to submit their request. This will be motivation for them not to waste plastic,” she adds. “We want to create a value chain for all kind of plastic to be sent for recycling,” she concludes. 25 benches, made out of 1250 kilograms of waste plastic, are ready to be placed. The government had even announced a ban on plastic, which resulted in great loss in the plastic manufacturing trade.Millions of plastic bottles are discarded around the country every day, and the number will only jump every year, wreaking havoc to the environment and oceans
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