An Indian plastics environmental group and the country’s largest packaged water brand Bisleri International, have launched a trial programme in schools to promote plastics bottle recycling. The Indian Centre for Plastics and the Environment hopes to take the initiative nationwide.
The programme saw students at 100 Mumbai schools fan out in their communities to collect PET and other plastics bottles.
Officials with the Indian Centre for Plastics and the Environment said the effort was also aimed at teaching children about the importance of garbage segregation, and came in response to a high-profile call from India’s new prime minister, Narendra Modi, for a ‘Swachh Bharat Abhiyan,’ or Clean India Campaign.
“The idea is now to roll over such projects in other cities in India and create more awareness for plastic waste collection and recycling,” said Vijay Merchant, a member of the governing council of the Mumbai-based ICPE.
Bisleri has helped to fund PET recycling facilities and collection centres in office parks, schools, tourist spots and shopping malls around the country.
“We endeavour to open more such centres every year, so that all Indians have access to recycling their plastic bottles and cleaning up after themselves,” the company said on its website. “Being the largest brand of mineral water in the country, we’ve always been extremely conscious of the nuisance PET bottles create, when not disposed properly.”
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