Mumbai: Mazgaon school becomes recycling pioneer of plastic bottles

Fr Dr Francis Swamy SJ, principal of St Mary's School, with the recycling machine. Pic/Bipin Kokate

At a time when the BMC is struggling to rein in the use of plastic bags in the city, St Mary's School (ICSE) in Mazgaon is setting a practical example for their students by installing a plastic recycling machine on campus.

It is the first school to take up such an initiative in the city, and also give practical lessons on the machine, which has the capacity of recycling 1,000 plastic bottles. According to the school officials, the PET bottle recycling machine will turn a plastic bottle into yarn (soft polyester). Industry experts claim that plastic bottles and polyester thread are actually made of the same substance - polyethene terephthalate.

The recycling machine at St Mary's School

"The shredded plastic will be used to made shopping bags and T-shirts," said Fr Dr Francis Swamy SJ, principal, St Mary's School (ICSE). On Thursday, the recycling equipment that costs around '5.5 lakh was installed in the school premises. The machine was even displayed at 'Immaculata' - the inter-school extravaganza, where nearly 3,000 students from 35 schools participated.

Also Read: Aditya Thackeray shares Mumbai's plastic horror; Netizens call it 'Eye Opener'

Principal Swamy stated that the school took this step because they wanted the children to understand the importance of environment and ecology at an early age. "Plastic is a major environmental concern. People use plastic but aren't aware of how to dispose of it, or the threat it poses to the environment. We wanted school kids to understand all these aspects, especially inculcate a habit of disposing plastic in a scientific manner at an early age," he added.

Following several complaints and cases where plastic was one of the reasons for choking of nullhas and flooding of the city last year, state environment minister Ramdas Kadam announced a ban on the use of plastic bags and made it mandatory to recycle the plastic that is still being used in the markets.

Also Read: Maharashtra government acted against 6,369 shops for violating plastic ban, says Ramdas Kada

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