Airbus India and SDC Foundation have come together to set up 300 Plastic Banks in Dehradun. Known as the 'Plastic Bank Project', this initiative is a three pronged, citizen-led 'awareness, segregation and behavior change' program that focusses on plastic waste.
Airbus is a global pioneer in the aerospace industry, operating in the commercial aircraft, helicopters, defense and space sector. The company is a leader in designing, manufacturing and delivering aerospace products, services and solutions to customers on a worldwide scale. It is the largest aeronautics and space company in Europe and is at the forefront of the aviation industry.
Scope: Under this collaboration, SDC shall collect, segregate and process plastic waste, primarily for recycling and conversion of the waste to energy or other products. The plastic waste collected from the various Plastic Banks will be brought to the Plastic Waste Segregation & Learning Center of SDC that has been recently set up at Mehuwala in the outskirts of Dehradun.
Next, the segregated and collected plastic will be recycled through a chain of recyclers. Apart from being a catalyst for behavior change, the Plastic Bank Project will promote the concept of a circular economy that is gaining prominence and traction across our country. The project will also help to prepare the city of Dehradun for the annual nationwide cleanliness competition, Swachh Survekshan.
Outreach: Plastic Banks are being set up at schools, colleges, hostels, showrooms, government offices, hospitals, religious places, hotels, RWA and apartment blocks. Our target is to establish 70-80 Plastic Banks in the next six months with a goal to reach 250-300 Plastic Banks by March 2025.
(Praveen Upreti, SDC Community Outreach Associate & Dinesh Chandra, Lead Social Service & Waste Management, encouraging school students to deposit plastic in their school's Plastic Bank)
Social Impact: The project will involve numerous institutions and thousands of citizens. It will nudge and encourage all participants, students and their families to reduce plastic waste generation and start the practice of waste segregation at a household level. The major focus of the project is waste reduction, segregation and collection of single use plastic.
The project aims to inculcate the practice of segregation and support in the scientific recycling of the collected plastic waste. While on one hand this will promote circularity, it will also reduce littering and waste burden on open spaces and waste collection centres in the city.
(Praveen Upreti, Dinesh Chandra & SDC Co-Founder Pyare Lal distributing bags to shopkeepers for plastic collection in Kimadi, Dehradun)
