NGO urges schools to collect plastic waste

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The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has collected 1.61 lakh kg of banned plastic items since the ban came into effect last month. While the municipal corporation has not yet started going all out against retailers or citizens for use of plastic, activists are coming up with initiatives to encourage citizens to give up plastic. Mumbai Sustainability Centre is a non-profit organisation that has started an initiative to collect plastic by engaging schools and colleges.

A website called safaibank.org is helping schools urge their students to stock the multi-laminated packaging waste which is used for packaging of chips and biscuits. Rishi Aggarwal, an environmentalist who is involved with this website, said, "We have collected 560 plastic items so far, which were thrown in the open."

This plastic, the site emphasises, chokes drains and is later found in the sea. Students can open an account on the website, in a certain branch. Once a week he/she will visit the said branch and deposit the waste there. "The waste will get sorted at the city depot and readied for final disposal. It will either go into making roads or in a cement kiln."

All manufacturers are liable to treat their own plastic waste, but, according to environmentalists, that is not being done. This is where a website like this can be of great help. Meanwhile, the BMC has collected highest plastic waste, weighing 29,450 kg from Bandra, Khar and Santacruz west.

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