This World Environment Day, Bisleri hosted a press conference to launch ‘Bottles For Change’, a plastic recycling initiative that focuses on efficient disposal and recycling of waste.
The launch event was supported by dignitaries like Ramdas Kadam, minister of environment, Govt. Of Maharastra, Aditya Thakeray, president, Yuva Sena and Dr N C Saha, director, Indian Institute of Packaging.
Speaking about the necessity of such an initiative, Kadam said , “Tonnes of bottles are used and get thrown into waste each day. Hardly anything gets recycled. We are already facing global warming and the adverse impacts can be seen all around us. This new initiative will firstly take care of the plastic waste that gets generated and secondly will help the people who we call as rag pickers but it’s only because of them, our city is clean and it’s time to bridge that gap and help these people out.”
Bisleri has partnered with three NGOs namely Parisar Bhagini Vikas Sangh, Sampurna Earth & Garbage Concern Welfare Society. This initiative pushes each person to follow the three R mantra – Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Together with the NGOs, Bisleri is conducting plastic collection and educational drives for communities, corporates, schools, colleges, and other institutions.
Saha providing more statistics on India’s position in the packaging market said, “India is on the third position when it comes to packaging preceded by Japan and China. According to research, by 2050, the plastic population will be higher than the fish population which is very alarming to hear. In the past few years, we have noticed a change in consumer attitude and consumer driven technology. The young generation is taking things in their own hands and are identifying the dire need for systematic disposal of plastic waste and setting it into motion.”
To support this systematic disposal, Aditya Thackarey released the ‘Bottles For Change’ poster, lauched the website, the helpline number and handed over the vehicle keys for disposal to the concerned person.
Speaking exclusively to Express TravelWorld, Thackarey said, “Previously over 10,000 crore plastic waste used to be collected. With the disposal system being adopted by around 60 per cent of households and societies, that number has come down to six and a half thousand crores plastic waste. We are also pushing for plastic waste to be used as compost waste which will drastically help the environment around us.”
