Dealing With Plastic Waste: Mumbai Metro Installs Plastic Crushers To Recycle Bottles

Mumbai: Mumbai Metro on Monday installed plastic crushers to recycle waste plastic bottles at six of the 12 stations on its network as part of the Swachh Bharat Mission, an official spokesperson said. The crushers, developed by Wild West Media, have been installed at D.N. Nagar, Andheri, Chakala, Marol Naka, Saki Naka and Ghatkopar, which have maximum footfalls. The initiative will help provide commuters with a handy facility to dispose of waste plastic bottles and contribute to the cause of cleaning up the environment.

“As an ecologically-conscious utility, we strive to keep the environment clean and green, and are always keen to adopt the best practices towards creating a Swachh Bharat. Mumbai Metro has already become synonymous with cleanliness,” said the spokesperson.

For their efforts, commuters will be entitled to instant rewards in the form of redeemable coupons, which will be dispensed by the machine. These coupons with discounts of 20-25 per cent can be redeemed at select brand outlets.

The crushed plastic bottles will be sent for recycling to fiber-manufacturing companies and used as raw materials for clothing, carpets, grocery bags and so on.

Simple to operate and cost-effective, each machine is about the size of a refrigerator and can “consume” around 5,000 plastic bottles daily.

Besides this, Reliance Infra Limited’s Mumbai Metro One has several other eco-friendly measures in place, including recycling 90 per cent of water used for washing its rolling stocks, rooftop solar panels for generating electricity and LED lighting at its office premises and train stations.

The 11.40 km long Mumbai Metro has 12 stations on its line between Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar.

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