Mumbai: The BMC's plan to recycle the seized plastics has finally seen the light of day. The civic body has started 10 centres in five administrative wards to collect plastics from citizens. The collected plastic is handed over to NGOs to convert it into benches, dustbins, etc.
The five member squad of each ward takes action against plastic in their respective areas. The civic team is now accompanied by officials of Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) and police constables during raids. However, with no use of it, the seized plastic was dumped in civic warehouses. So the BMC came up with an idea of recycling plastic.
Accordingly, two collection centres were each formed in A ward - Colaba, C - Marine lines, T - Mulund, P South - Goregaon and R South - Kandivali, last month. "The NGO will create awareness among the citizens and make them aware of the disadvantages of plastics. The plastic collected at these centres is segregated and then recycled. Project Mumbai, a NGO, is helping us with recycling plastic. We are also planning to involve," said a senior official of the solid waste management department.
Four years back, 'Project Mumbai' collected plastic from the housing societies and recycled it into benches, pencil ,boxes and even garbage bins. The BMC revived the drive against banning plastic on July 1, 2022. If the shopkeeper uses banned plastic, a fine between Rs5,000 and Rs25,000 is imposed.
BMC seized 2,159 kg of plastic from August 21 to October 31 and collected Rs 54 lakhs in the form of a penalty.
