India CSR News Network
MUMBAI : The Indian Beauty & Hygiene Association (IBHA) recently undertook a unique Zero Waste Sachet Recycling pilot project and moreover succeeded in collecting 600 kgs of sachet waste that will be turned into oil and carbon. IBHA (formerly known as ISTMA) is a national trade association comprising of companies in the Indian cosmetics and personal care industry, viz.Hindustan Unilever, L’Oreal India Pvt Ltd, P&G, Johnson& Johnson, Wipro, Godrej, Marico etc.
Commenting on the Zero Waste Recycling Sachet Project, Shri. Dinesh Dayal – President IBHA said “This project is a first for the industry in looking at ways to reduce our carbon footprint and tackle the menace of plastic sachet waste. In alignment with the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan movement, IBHA as a group was determined to be a first mover in looking at sustainable and innovative solutions to recycle flexi plastic waste”
Last year, IBHA tied up with Stree Mukti Sanghatana(SMS), an organization that works actively with women rag pickers and the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai. The project incentivized rag pickers to collect multi-layer flexible plastic waste like sachet waste and food packets, which was then sent for recycling. Under their Parisar Vikas Waste Management Program, 200 rag pickers are currently involved in this project and helped to collect flexible plastic waste such as sachets and food packets.
Out of the 26 wards in Mumbai, SMS started this collection in 13 wards covering 235 housing colonies, 12 colleges, 10 hotels & nine banks. IBHA has also held several awareness sessions and health camps for SMS women rag pickers to help build awareness on the issue. Currently the project covers 50% of Mumbai and IBHA is in talks with BMC to cover the whole of Mumbai.
The All India Plastic Manufacturers Association(AIPMA) supported this project, and proposed AMPOLT Electronics, a Bangalore based company to help recycle the collected waste. Keeping true to the zero waste goals, the collected flexible multi-layerplastic sachet waste is turned into oil that is used by mineral extracting companies. They recycled multilayer plastic waste also has a carbon component that is used by companied manufacturing Agarbattis. This is a zero waste process and has no harmful effects on the environment.
