“The waste generated on a farm decomposes, except for PLASTIC”
Plastic waste mismanagement is a growing issue across the world and in India. The same applies to Agricultural Plastic Waste (APW). Agriculture and its allied sectors are the single largest source of livelihood for many in India; accounting to 17-18% of the country’s GDP. The amount of APW generated on the farms is unfortunately not recorded and remains unused.
APW includes Pesticide/Fertillizer containers, Silage wraps, Irrigation pipes, Packaging waste and others, which have a significant value in the waste recycling market. There is an urgent need to raise awareness of the importance of waste and the need for proper handling and recycling.
Read: 7 types of plastics and their recyclability
Recykal’s “My Farm Plastic, My Responsibility” a Plastic waste take-back program initiative in collaboration with Bayer CropScience LLP and PI Industries was launched at 12 locations across Nashik.
Objective is to create awareness and setting up points of collection for the APW in the farms in and around Nashik
About the program
The program began with an inaugural ceremony by Mr. Vilas Vishnu Shinde -Chairman & Managing Director Sahyadri Farms. The program was followed by Mr. Suhas Joshi -Sustainability and Business Stewardship Lead (South Asia) Bayer CropScience Ltd and Mr.Dushyant Sood -Senior Vice President Marketing – P I Industries on 15.01.2022.
The online and on-field program was attended by local farmers and authorities.
Collection Points for Plastic Waste
As a pilot project the Plastic take-back program is/was launched at 12 locations in and around Nashik:
- Nilwandi
- Umbarkhed
- Sahyadri R&D Farm
- Sonewadi
- Sawargaon
- Umberkhed
- Behed
- Konambe
- Shilapur
- Rajapur
- Palkhed Dam
- Hatnore
The program progressed to set up waste collection bins at the above-listed locations. During the event, awareness was raised on the importance of disposing of washed and clean plastic containers to avoid the hazardous impact of the chemicals in the containers.
“I am so happy to be a witness to such a program. It started on a good note. It will contribute to our health and environment. We, farmers, welcome this initiative”.
– Ganesh Hire, Farmer
Awareness Program
A 3-time rinsing process was explained and demonstrated to the farmers around, prior to disposing in the bins. The provided bins were strategically placed to welcome a maximum number of farmers to deposit their APW.
Impact
The Collection Cages and the awareness created among the farmers will pave the way to the efficient waste collection – channelisation and recycling.
Additionally, There will be a significant impact on the environment and farm surroundings, drastically reducing the littered waste while keeping a valuable resource in the system.
Furthermore, The awareness created will make the local community conscious in terms of waste generated, disposal and its scope of recycling.
Along with the above mentioned, the awareness and collection program will help achieve key Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
“On the behalf of our all-farmer brothers, we will ensure all the support to make our agricultural land plastic free which will help human and animal lives. As we believe, whatever we start on the occasion of Sankranti we continue to do it the whole year, so our plastic take-back program will be up and running year-long”.
– Ganesh Kadam, Farmer
Key Challenges and Mitigation Measures
- Enabling the local farmers to actively participate in this program, which requires an additional effort from them to bring the waste to these bins.
- Ensuring maximum collection of Plastic Waste in the remote regions is a challenge. This can be addressed by placing multiple bins across the farmland
- Lack of awareness is the biggest challenge, especially in terms of the recyclability of plastic waste and its proper disposal. Our team is actively conducting awareness campaigns in collaboration with leading agriculture companies.
About Recykal
Recykal is an end-to-end digital solutions provider that facilitates transactions for all stakeholders across India’s waste management and recycling value chain to promote more efficient and effective recycling of local plastic waste.
- We power a digital Marketplace and provide Smart Centre Solutions for dry waste collection centres to ensure plastic is recycled properly and efficiently.
- Also, We enable transparent and traceable transactions between more stakeholders in the plastic recycling ecosystem.
- EPRLoop by Recykal provides FMCG and Electronics brands a complete ecosystem to track, trace and fulfil sustainability targets.
We operate in 28 states and 6 Union Territories and successfully channelise more than 20,000 MT of waste each month. We are currently partnering with:
- 90+ Urban Local Bodies (ULBs)
- 100+ brands (e.g. Marico, Pidilite, Unilever, Samsung, LG)
- 150+ recyclers
- 500+ aggregators
Through our partnerships, we have been able to create awareness among both bulk and domestic waste generators on effective waste management, enable better compliance for Brands, enable circularity by channelizing higher quality material to recyclers consistently.
Interested in enabling plastic waste collection in your vicinity? Get in touch with us today!
