India plastic recycling campaigns- How companies like Bisleri are taking the lead
Bisleri is conducting the best plastic recycling campaign in India which is known as Bottles for Change. This campaign has been deemed as the top plastic recycling campaign in India since plastic is one of the most versatile materials invented by human beings. Many things in our lives have become more convenient and easier owing to the usage of plastics. Plastic also comes with an impeccable capability of being readily recycled. There are several myths that need to be busted around plastic. The problem lies not with plastic but with irresponsible behavior of human beings while disposing plastic. If there is sensible disposal, then it may actually do well for the environment as per experts. If recycled suitably, plastic may be used for making recycled polyester which can eventually churn out various things such as t-shirts, shoes and bags, thereby putting lower strain on our natural resources.
Being the market leader in the mineral water segment, Bisleri puts a lot of emphasis on its plastic recycling campaign in India. Bottles for Change greatly emphasizes on creation of more awareness amongst regular citizens with regard to plastic bottle recycling, segregation of waste and also observing the best practices towards ensuring a cleaner and safer environment for everyone. There are plastic recycling awareness drives held under this blueprint along with collection drives throughout colleges, schools, shopping malls, corporate offices, social gatherings, festivals, special events and so on. A total of three NGOs have already come on board as partners of Bisleri for this programme. These include PBVS or the Parisar Bhagini Vikas Sangh, Garbage Concern Welfare Society and Sampurna Earth. The plastic that is collected is crushed before being sold to recyclers and prior to final conversion into flakes. The flakes are then used for the creation of various non-edible items including handbags, cloth fabric and window blinds among various other items.
Bottles for Change is a lot about creating scope for waste pickers to easily collect clean and used plastics through multiple channels while enabling them to collect a larger amount of clean plastics simultaneously, thereby helping them earn decent income in the process. All plastics collected are readily sorted at the center for segregation and dispatched likewise for recycling purposes. Waste pickers are provided more hygienic working conditions along with a more respectable life and support for educating children via the NGO partner likewise. The program ensures successful collection and recycling of 3,035 tonnes of plastic over the last 3 years along with working for the welfare and progress of more than 1,500 underprivileged women and their families as well. Since the inception, the campaign has covered almost 3,00,000 students along with their families. It has also reached out successfully to more than 500,000 people including housing societies, students, hotels and corporates alike. Bisleri is a world record holder supporting the Swachh Bharat Mission, initiating a plastic bottle collection and recycling drive throughout schools. On the 4th of October, 2015, Bisleri came into the Guinness World Records and Limca Book of Records, collecting the highest number of PET bottles for recycling purposes via the school contact programme that covered more than 2 lakh students. Bisleri collected a whopping 23,538.9 kilograms of PET bottles which is equivalent to 1.1 million bottles.
