An Exchange On Twitter Led Anand Mahindra To A Big Decision To Ban Plastic Bottles From Boardrooms. Here’s What Happened

New Delhi: Anand Mahindra, Chairman of Mahindra Group is popular among Netizens for being proactive on micro-blogging site Twitter, and constantly putting out his views on a wide variety of social and economic issues apart from updating his followers on matters related to his company. Just like putting out any other update on social media, on Tuesday (July 16), Anand Mahindra posted about K.C.M.E.T (K.C. Mahindra Education Trust) scholarship selections and that one tweet and following replies made him vow to banish plastic bottles from corporate boardrooms.

“The K.C.M.E.T scholarship selections are amongst the most energising engagements in my calendar. The incredible intelligence and self-belief displayed by these youngsters is staggering. All concerns about the future are shoved aside by the optimism these young people inspire,” Mr Mahindra tweeted along with a couple of pictures.

Also Read: Goodbye Plastic, Hello Creativity: Five Easy Ways To Reuse Plastic Bottles

In one of the photos, 10 plastic water bottles are seen. While many users didn’t pay any heed to the single-use plastic water bottles, an observant and environment conscious user instantly pointed out the plastic bottles and suggested to have steel water bottles.

“I think the board room should have steel bottle instead of plastic bottle.. Just an observation sir”, wrote Mitali, drawing attention to the ongoing debate and discussion around the world about how to fight plastic pollution.

Acknowledging this response to his tweet, Mr Mahindra straightaway responded saying, “Yes, plastic bottles will be banished. We were all embarrassed to see them that day…”

Also Read: Single Use Plastics Ko Na Na Na Na: Union Minister Harsh Vardhan Launches ‘Plastic Waste Free India’ Anthem

Following Mitali, other twitterati started sharing eco-friendly and sustainable alternatives to plastic water bottles. One of the users suggested copper bottles and hitting two birds with one stone – discarding the use of plastic and improving one’s health as drinking from a copper vessel comes with varied health benefits.

Another user suggested practising BYOB (bring your own bottle) and refilling water bottle though water dispensers. He wrote, “All should carry their own bottles from home. With the weight of laptop/lunch box, 1 litre of water from home is no big deal. If anyone wants to consume more water, water dispensers can be used and employee should be charged ₹10/litre. The accumulated amount should be matched by Mahindra’s and used for water conservation projects.”

Also Read: Can India Eliminate Single-Use Plastics By 2022?

One of the comments suggested getting rid of the single-use plastic water bottles by switching to glass bottles.

And there were more recommendations on social media.

https://twitter.com/Shivay87485180/status/1151553149750038530

Also Read: #BottleCapChallenge: The Viral Challenge ‘Sickens’ Dia Mirza, Twitterati Agree

A user questioned Mr Mahindra’s decision of banning plastic water bottles only from boardrooms and asked ‘why not in the full company under the brand’.

Also Read: Plastic Waste: How Different Countries Are Handling Plastic And What India Can Learn

Another user thinks banning is not the solution but educating individuals about plastic use is pivotal.

The fight against plastic doesn’t end by simply switching to sustainable alternatives because the need of the hour is to reuse and recycle the existing plastic waste. Backing the same, Mr Mahindra shared a photo of two-wheelers parked inside a broken water tank.

He captioned the picture as, “I had tweeted about banning plastic water bottles in my office & I suppose that could apply to a number plastic products around us. But good to see people creatively recycling stuff as well!”

Since Tuesday, Mr Mahindra’s reply to Mitali’s suggestion has garnered over 3100 likes, 285 retweets and 243 comments. Share your suggestions on how to fight plastic menace in the comments section below.

Also Read: On World Environment Day, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Announced Non-Recyclable Polythene Buy Back Scheme

NDTV – Dettol Banega Swachh India campaign lends support to the Government of India’s Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM). Helmed by Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan, the campaign aims to spread awareness about hygiene and sanitation, the importance of building toilets and making India open defecation free (ODF) by October 2019, a target set by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, when he launched Swachh Bharat Abhiyan in 2014. Over the years, the campaign has widened its scope to cover issues like air pollution, waste management, plastic ban, manual scavenging and menstrual hygiene. The campaign has also focused extensively on marine pollution, clean Ganga Project and rejuvenation of Yamuna, two of India’s major river bodies.