Heena Sharma Blog

Railways will help recharge phones of passengers if they use plastic bottle crushing machines installed at stations in a bid to promote Prime Minister Narendra Modi's initiative to junk single use plastic. In his Independence Day speech, Modi had appealed to the nation to eliminate single-use plastic and find alternatives to plastic water bottles on a priority basis. Railways have issued directions that from October 2 this year, single use plastic will not be used on its premises. Railway Board Chairman VK Yadav has said that railways will install 400 bottle crushing machines at stations in which a passenger wanting to use them will have to key in his phone number into the machine and his phone will be recharged. However, details of the recharge were not known immediately. Currently, 160 bottle crushing machines are available at 128 stations, he said. He also said that instructions have been given to railway staff to collect all the used plastic bottles at railway ...

A legal loophole is allowing an influx of PET bottles into the country, despite a ban on the import of plastic waste , a New Delhi-based environmental organisation has claimed. While China’s ban on importing plastic waste has forced other countries to step up recycling efforts, India has become one of the countries whose plastic waste imports have increased “substantially”. An organisation called the Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Smriti Manch (PDUSM) has claimed India’s imports of plastic scraps from China, Japan, Italy and Malawi for recycling and imports of PET bottle scrap and flakes has quadrupled. It says that in the fiscal year 2016-17, the imports were 12,000 tonnes. This figure grew to 48,000 tonnes in FY 2017-18. The organisation also claims that India has already imported 25,000 million tonnes (MT) in the first three months of FY 2018-19. India banned the import of plastic waste – particularly PET bottles –in 2015 because of an inability to recycle them. Experts sugge...

The government has banned manufacturing, use, sale, distribution and storage of plastic materials such as bags, spoons, plates and other disposable items Current Affairs News : Retailers, especially food and grocery chains, are grappling with the newly-implemented plastic ban in Maharashtra, saying that it is impractical in many instances. "For liquid items, what alternative do we have. When we have to move goods from one market to another, there is no alternative. Wherever it is possible, we have used an alternative but in many places, we do not know what to do," said Rakesh Biyani, joint managing director at Future Retail. Neville Noronha, managing director of D-Mart, said that the ban was unfair in commodities such as fresh produce and staples, among others, which are sold in small quantities. "If manufacturers can package the product with plastic, we also should be allowed to package products at the shop floor," he said. The government ...