Jolted by the potential nationwide ban on single-use plastic on October 2, Bisleri International, in addition to various other bottled water companies have sought clarification on the categorisation of Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) as single-use plastic.
Just a couple of days from the big announcement, we spoke to Anjana Ghosh, Director Marketing and OSR-Bisleri International, on the pressures of plastic on the planet and PET, the lifeline of the company.
Bisleri has asked for clarification on whether PET bottles will come under the banning purview. But studies show the potential leach of toxic metal antimony from PET into water. Does this indicate your claims are not full-proof?
Very recently CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory, a national testing agency, has published a report stating that PET is absolutely safe and does not leach cancerous chemicals. PET is the most valuable plastic, hence it is not left unattended on the streets. It’s collected and sold for recycling.
The biggest challenge is the enormous ignorance and misconception people have across segments around plastic and that’s what we have to address.
Given the uproar with the plastic disposal debate, have you considered introducing alternate materials?
There is no evidence of any biodegradable plastic in existence. Also, plastic disposal is easy. The only thing required is to educate end-users to not consider used plastic as waste but as a valuable resource. PET is the safest material and there is no alternative to it. An alternative like glass is not safe or economical.
Bisleri has worked with 1,500 underprivileged women and their families as part of their CSR, Bottles for Change. Is this a one-time effort or a long-lasting commitment?
Bisleri has been committed to plastic recycling from 2000. We bought to India the first recycling machine from Japan and had it installed in our Andheri plant in Mumbai. We put in place a buyback mechanism and urged rag pickers to pick PET bottles thrown around on the street to bring them to our plant and get paid for it. Since the last two years, we have started educating citizens on how to dispose of plastic.
Through Bottles for Change, we are also reaching out to citizens to change their perception about plastic. Plastic is not bad, what is bad is the way we dispose it. We should stop treating plastic as waste. Post use, we should clean the plastic if dirty and segregate separately. But if thrown in the dry waste, these land up in dump yards and go into landfills.
Bisleri and other conglomerates announced the setting up of a packaging waste management entity aimed at creating an efficient value chain for collection of plastic waste. Tell us more.
There’s a mechanism in place for managing plastic post use. Ragpickers scavenge plastic from dump yards and sell them to kabbadiwalas or plastic aggregators who further sell the plastic to recyclers. India is the only country in the world that recycles more than 60 per cent of plastic that is produced, better than Japan or the most advanced countries.
The challenge presently is the system of scavenging plastic. Through our programs, we are educating citizen to not put plastic in the waste bin but send it directly for recycling.
What are your plastic management goals for the rest of 2019?
Our vision is to eliminate dump yards across the country, and 100 per cent of plastic should get recycled. Plastic from homes, schools, colleges, and offices should directly go for recycling. We also want the people in the chain to get organised.