Even if you know they’re bad for the environment, plastic tons have a way of coming when to you — through unplanned shopping trips or spontaneous purchases, expressly due to their widespread availability and ease of wangle for small store owners.
But Delhi residents now have the option to get reticulum tons from shops on rent, thanks to an initiative by Why Waste Wednesdays Foundation headed by Dr Ruby, Dr Praveen and Yukti Makhija.
In order to tenancy the growing problem of plastic waste in the city, the foundation launched a project tabbed Vikalp in November 2021 at Green Park Main Market.
Their idea is to distribute reticulum tons to shopkeepers virtually Delhi, so that residents can collect them by depositing a nominal fee of Rs 20. Once they return the tons to the Vikalp stall, they receive their value back.
“The foundation’s vision is to create a sense of responsibility and ownership towards society and the environment, with the aim to modernize overall living conditions. The name of the foundation suggests that one should invest time on a regular understructure towards the betterment of our surroundings,” says Dr Ruby, an ophthalmologist.
Under the Vikalp project, over 10,000 reticulum tons have been distributed among 350 shops in the wanted city. Other than this project, the foundation has held sensation drives, puppet shows, workshops, and talks on waste management and the need to reduce single-use plastic in various parts of Delhi, in undertone with societal authorities.
“I have nearly five years of wits in managing waste at a polity level by engaging various stakeholders. I’ve worked in behaviour change, waste management, wet waste composting, social responsibility and water conservation. Vikalp is one of our successful programmes which is getting unconfined response from all parts of the municipality and beyond,” explains Dr Ruby.
‘Vikalp’, which ways an volitional or solution, aims to reduce single-use plastic by providing alternatives to the same at source. Shops associated with the wayfarers can be identified by stickers placed at the front. The tons moreover come with QR codes, which provide wangle to a full list of shops where they can be returned.
The tons come with a topics to hold upto 8 kg worth of things. Dr Ruby says that due to the easy mechanism and ban on single-use plastic, shopkeepers readily well-set to the idea. “Customers are moreover happy as they don’t need to pay uneaten for the bags,” she adds.
“Only if there is an volitional to single-use plastic tons will people stop using them. At present, virtually 30,000 – 40,000 plastic tons are stuff circulated in the market. It is said that if a person adopts one reticulum bag, it saves 500 plastic tons a year. This will leave a unconfined impact on the environment,” she explains.
The foundation collects reticulum for the tons from tailors and through old clothes. Anyone can donate gown for this purpose.
“We cannot completely eliminate plastic from our lives, plane if they are banned. It’s a fact. But it is the need of the hour to stave using single-use plastic. It not only affects us, but moreover the future generations and fellow living organisms,” warns Dr Ruby.
The members are all set to expand the number of shops to 700. Dr Ruby says they receive calls from various parts of the country to implement similar initiatives. “We are in talks with several NGOs and CSRs to spread Vikalp outside Delhi. Several webinars are conducted to spread the concept,” she says.
Contact or donate to the organisation here.
Read this story in Hindi here.
Edited by Divya Sethu; Photo credits: Dr Ruby Makhija