Plastic ban: Mumbai eco warriors list out alternatives for plastic

Kanika Advani has been using electric cars for years, and promotes the use of natural organic fibres through her company

Just yesterday, this newspaper had reported that 25 days after the statewide plastic ban, the BMC has managed to collect 36,000 kg of plastic that Mumbaikars dumped in waste collectors and dry waste segregation centres set up across the city. What it means is that this humongous quantity of plastic will be duly disposed of with shredding machines instead of ending up as a mountain of waste in a landfill. But what it also means is that Mumbaikars are still heavily dependent on their use of plastic.

But it doesn't have to be this way, and that's what individuals working towards creating sustainable alternatives to plastic will tell the audience at the Rise & Recycle edition of XChange Thursdays, an idea-sharing platform.

Simona Terron

"With the plastic bag ban coming into place at last, it's high time people started paying attention to replacing not just plastic bags," says Simona Terron, who started the monthly exchange platform. A co-founder of The Bicycle Project India, a charity initiative which refurbishes old donated bicycles in Mumbai and gifts them to tribal schoolchildren in nearby villages so they don't have to walk long distances to school, Terron adds that when people working towards similar causes come together, it leads to greater synergy.

The audience can expect to hear from Rhea Chhabria, who with her partner Suraj Nair, supplies straws made of bamboo and metal to hotels and restaurants, and Hema Sengaokar, who has introduced the concept of a "social gift", which is a pack of 10 recycled bags at '120 that can be gifted to anyone who may find it difficult or expensive to wean away from plastic. Santosh Tungare, an environmental consultant who designs systems for waste management based on nature's principles, also features among the speakers.

ON: Tonight, 6.30 pm to 8.30 pm
AT: Title Waves, St Pauls Media Complex, 24th Road, off Turner Road, Bandra West.
CALL: 26510841

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