In tune with the call given by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to phase out single use plastic (SUP) by 2022, Waltair Division of East Coast Railway led by Divisional Railway Manager Chetan Kumar Shrivastava, began a campaign at the railway station here on Wednesday.
Speaking to the media after launching a signature and poster campaign, he said that the awareness will be taken up in phases.
“Today we have begun the awareness campaign, on October 2 we will join the nation in collection of plastic waste, from October 3 to 7 we will engage in transporting the collected plastic to the district hub, from October 8 to 10 the focus will be on segregating the plastic waste to be recycled and which cannot be, and from there onwards we will go ahead towards the vision of eliminating SUP by 2022,” said Mr. Shrivastava.
According to him, the use of plastic bags have already been removed from the station as far as possible and cloth and paper bags are being promoted.
IRCTC, which is the primary food supplying organisation in trains and stations, has about 40 stalls in Visakhapatnam division, and in tune with other suppliers about 1.5 tonnes of plastic waste is generated every day.
The Waltair Division has been observing the movement since long time by organising massive awareness campaigns and discouraging the use of plastic in Railway premises in the Division, said Mr. Shrivastava.
Pointing out towards a few initiatives, he said, plastic bottle crushers have been placed on all the platforms at Visakhapatnam Railway station and we are also planning to do the same at other stations. “We have also set-up dual dustbins for segregation of waste biodegradable & non-biodegradable waste at stations and on railway premises,” said Mr. Shrivastava.
According to a senior railway official, IRCTC has been informed to collect the plastic water bottles sold so far and the same will be recycled or processed for reuse.
“The phased removal of SUP is expected to reduce India’s annual consumption of plastic — an estimated 14 million tonnes — by about 50%,” he said.
Akshay Saxena, ADRM (Infra), P. Ramachandra Rao, ADRM (Operations), other senior officers, members of East Coast Railway Women’s Welfare Organisation led by Ms. Shalini Shrivastava, and others were present.
