Bisleri goes aggressive on PET disposal drive

In the last two decades Bisleri has been working to address the issue and impart knowledge to people about the right way to dispose PET and its benefits. The process started in 1999 when Bisleri imported a machine from Japan to cut & wash the PET flakes. This initiative was aimed at creating value for PET bottle scrap. This led to the price of PET scrap being raised to Rs.30 per kg. In 2013, it launched “Go Green Initiative” - encouraging corporates to give back used plastic bottles which were send for recycling. In 2014, as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan, it started a plastic bottle collection drive in schools motivating students to adapt to this eco-friendly habit of correctly disposing the PET waste.

In 2015 it takes a step further by creating a campaign which aims to enter Limca Book of Records and Guinness World Record by collecting 20,000 kgs of used plastic bottles within eight hours on Sunday, October 4th, 2015. The initiative aims at targeting more than two lakh students in Mumbai. 

Ramesh Chauhan, Managing Director, Bisleri International Pvt. Ltd explains the rationale behind the drive, “Our current initiative is targeted towards a global reach. We want maximum people to be influenced by our initiative. We aim to motivate them to be more responsible towards the environment by proper management of PET. People should understand that PET is not a waste but an asset; it just needs to be disposed and reused correctly.”

Elaborating on the reason behind the initiative Chauhan says “In 2014, as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan we had taken up a PET collection drive in schools. The response received from the schools was overwhelming and participation increased in such eco-friendly initiatives. Thus, this year we plan to take up this activity on a much bigger level and gain a global recognition for India as an environmentally responsible country.”

He details the initiative, “We have associated with over 100 schools for active collection of PET. In these schools, we have put up informative posters and banners which will remind the children and guide them towards better PET disposal habits. We have also conducted presentations in all these schools for over one lakh students educating them about plastics, benefits and process of recycling and why collection of waste PET is important. We will use social media as well to promote this initiative among masses.” 

While the initiative is currently Mumbai focused, the company plans to extend it to other parts of the country too. Chauhan informs, “Although we have been consistently endeavouring to promote the idea of PET collection and recycle, this initiative is our first major attempt towards a globally recognised activity. Also, the attempt requires us to complete the task in eight hours’ time and hence the logistics need to be planned accordingly. Once we are successful in doing this in Mumbai, we are certainly interested in replicating the same activity in other parts of India too.”

Lack of awareness and the wrong perception about PET as a nuisance is the cause for wrong disposal of Pet. In order to address the issue about it, a number of ATL and BTL activities were taken on by Bisleri to address the issue and also to create awareness about this initiative.

Bisleri has made constant efforts to change the perception of the people about PET and also taken on a number of initiatives to remind that it is 100% recyclable material. It has also taken initiatives not only on the school front but also to incorporate and engage corporate clients in collection of all PET bottles on regular basis which are sent for recycling. One of the other initiatives taken by them was to install PET crushing machines in few malls to motivate more and more people to dispose this asset wisely.

As to what keeps the motivation going, Chauhan says, “We need to continue to engage with students and their parents in similar initiatives to ensure that the necessary change takes place in our society. This year we plan to attempt for this globally recognised record to reach out to maximum people and help create an environmentally responsible society and to educate one and all.”

zeba@adgully.com