Ragpickers to end plastic menace

Sandesh Prabhudesai
11 September 2001  

Ragpickers in Goa may have good days ahead, if chief minister Manohar Parrikar firmly goes ahead with his 'mission' to put an end to plastic menace.

He plans to collect the plastic bottles thrown all over in the tourist state, crush them in Goa itself and sell it to a recycling unit outside the state. To collect the bottles, he plans to hire the ragpickers.

The scheme is likely to begin from 2 October, the Gandhi Jayanti Day.

With 12 manufacturing units functioning here, the government estimates that around 50,000 dozens of bottles are thrown away every month in a tiny coastal state, which means not less than 7.2 million bottles accumulate every year.

It includes bottles of soft drinks, mineral water, other plastic containers and even 'throw-away' bottles introduced by several liquor companies.

With a pre-condition to all the companies to implement a system to buy back the bottles, the BJP government here has also reduced sales tax on plastic-bottled drinks (except liquor) from 20 to 12 per cent.

"It is a mission for me to end plastic menace in the state, just not a deal", states Parrikar. Big multinationals like Pepsi and Coca Cola have agreed to co-operate, he adds.

The state plans to have kiosks at central places, dumping units at strategic points as well as picking boys all over the state to collect the plastic bottles, which will be then crushed centrally and sold to recycling unit in granule form.

"I am even prepared to finance a crushing unit if anyone comes forward", states Parrikar. He has also imposed a cess of 50 paise behind every plastic bottle that is bottled, which will be used as preliminary funding to implement the whole system.

If it clicks, Parrikar then also plans to extend it for plastic bags. Goa has already banned recycled plastic bags while not using plastic anywhere in the state administration.

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