My Plastic Waste is My Responsibility

Contributor: Tejal Rajyagor

"My Plastic Waste is My Responsibility Campaign"

Ever since I moved to Bombay a decade ago, I gradually started noticing the increase in my consumption of products that come with a plastic cover or a wrapper. While over past few years, I took conscious and deliberate steps to reduce or eliminate some of these products, some or the other form of plastic (single or multi use) would still end up entering the home (through humans, of course!). And without really knowing what to do with it, couple of years ago, one fine day I decided that no matter what, I will not throw it in the dustbin and contribute to the ever increasing mountains of non-degradable waste that is surrounding most of our cities, towns in the form a landfill. 

So, I found a big blue plastic bag, hung it on a hook in the kitchen and started putting all the plastic in it. The milk packets and other food packets, I would wash, dry and carefully fold. It of course led to a certain sense of irritation in my brother ☺ His most common question would be, what are you going to do with it? I also doubted myself on the days when I would spot a lizard or two in the kitchen, thinking are these being attracted by the bag full of plastic or due to the kitchen wet waste which I was now wrapping in the newspaper! And not to forget, the constant reminder and reinforcement of the idea of not throwing plastic that I had to instil into the aunty who comes home to help with dishes and cleaning. And for the longest period of time she would look flabbergasted every time I picked up the plastic that she would throw into the dustbin! The best of all is, the number of people (ranging from my close relatives to the auto drives) who would ask, ‘Plastic dene ke paise milte hai?’ so far the question ends up triggering me and I become all too serious in the response. I am yet to find a funny response which conveys the message and still doesn’t sound too serious. So if you have got one, let me know! 

Finally, in February 2017 a friend shared about a campaign ‘My Plastic Waste is My Responsibility’ run by a Thane (city close to Mumbai) based organisation called Urjaa Foundation. The sense of ownership that the name of the campaign intended to awakened just felt right on my conscious and ever since then I have started carrying not just my plastic waste but of friends who stay near and far and the plastic that gets used by me or people around during work or family travel. It certainly has made me look like someone who has begun to become obsessive but I don’t really mind that ☺!  Close friends who work in the Environmental sector have also said that these are acts of personal purities and can make hardly any dent in the scheme of things. While I completely resonate with where they come from,

I have come to believe that the world needs all kinds of acts to restore her balance – small, big, individual, collective! So while I and many souls across the world are striving and hoping for big, collective acts, I will not let that deprive me of small, individual acts done consistently, and consistently being the most crucial part of it!

What kind of plastic waste is accepted?

- Milk bags, oil bags, food bags

- Yogurt containers, disposable eye glasses, cutlery

- Cooking oil canisters

- Laminate tubes (toothpaste, medicines)

- Carry bags (all micron thickness)

- Food item bags (wafer, kurkure, farsan, etc.), wrappers

- PET bottles (bisleri, softdrinks, toilet cleaning material)

- Shampoo, powder bottles, empty sachets

- Detergent bags (Surf, Excel, Tide, Nirma, etc.)

- Plastic flowers, buckets, chairs

- All types of warppers, bubble wraps

- Plastic toys, CD, casset covers

- Plastic table cloth, curtains, sofa covers, etc.

Note: Milk bags, fresh food containers, tea cups, etc. must be washed and dried to avoid strong rotting smell.

Do Not Accept:

- Ballpens, metallic tubes, melamine crockery, cloth bags, velvet bags, paper/ paper bags, anything made of glass, metal, and paper.

And what really happens to all the collected plastic? 

Urjaa Foundation organises a collection drive (roughly once in 45 days), on a Sunday morning at Thane and Dombivali to collect plastic waste. It is done in collaboration with Pune based Keshav Sita Trust and Rudra Solution. 

From 2009, Rudra has been researching and developing its Thermo Catalytic Depolymerization (TCD) technology to convert the non-degradable plastic waste into fuel and gases. 

According the company brochure available on their website, currently each ton of plastics produces approximately 

∙ 600 to 650 liters of poly fuel

∙ 20 to 25% synthetic gas – used in the process

∙ 5 to 10% moisture

∙ 5 to 10% Residual char – can be used ad road filler with bitumen.

The produced fuel used directly for the burning in kerosene stoves, boilers, furnaces, certain types of gensets etc. The char produced, as the contamination of waste plastic is a non-hazardous waste.

In Thane, Dombivali – Urjaa Foundation has taken up the responsibility of conducting collection drives (roughly every 45 days, on a Sunday morning). All the collected plastic is transported to the Rudra Solutions plant at Jejuri via truck on the same day. Each drive, the foundation incurs about 12-20,000rs for the transportation of the waste. They welcome financial contributions towards covering this costs and further details can be obtained by getting in touch with one of their members. 

In Pune, Keshav Sita Trusts collects plastic from households, hotels and various establishments. 

How to get in touch with Urjaa Foundation and Rudra Soultions?

Urjaa Foundation
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/UrjaaFoundation/

For Dombivali – 9167206201 | 9820807362

For Thane – 9967540339 | 9819328365

**These are phone numbers of volunteers who conduct the drive, it is advised to use them only if required and respectfully!


Rudra Solutions
Website - http://rudraenvsolution.com/index.html

Other Links:

http://www.thebetterindia.com/60328/pune-plastic-waste-poly-fuel-environment

http://indianexpress.com/article/cities/pune/a-team-that-collects-your-plastic-waste

So are you ready to make your plastic waste, your responsibility?!