In an attempt to become more eco-friendly, the Indian Railways has introduced a unique initiative where it has installed plastic bottle crushing machines in some stations across the country. What sets these machines apart is that for every bottle crushed, passengers will get an instant cashback of Rs. 5 in their Paytm wallets.
All that passenger has to do is to enter their mobile phone numbers in the machine after dropping their bottles.
Railways have installed bottle crushers at the Vadodara railway station to minimise plastic waste at the station.Railways have announced that passengers who'll enter their mobile number on the machine after dropping a bottle into it will get cashback of Rs 5 on their Paytm wallet pic.twitter.com/F5vlY9Wwfm
— ANI (@ANI) June 6, 2018
With the aim of tackling the growing menace of plastic usage, the national transporter has not only set up such machines at the Vadodara Railway Station, but also in a number of stations that fall under Bengaluru division namely, KSR city station, Yeshwantpur station, Cantonment station as well as Krishnarajapuram station, reported Financial Express.
The daily also reported that this facility was inaugurated by Divisional Railway Manager Of Bengaluru division, RS Saxena on World Environment Day 2018. Talking to the daily, he said that the number of machines would be increased depending upon the kind of response they get from the passengers.
Additionally, he also mentions that Rs. 4.5 lakh has been spent by the railways on each machine which were done in partnership with a private firm. These automated machines are noiseless and will crush the bottles into fine pieces.
Not only these stations, but Mysuru, and other railway stations in Ahmedabad, Mumbai, and Pune have also been making use of such machines.
The Indian Railways has started more eco-friendly initiatives on the World Environment Day, such as serving meals to passengers traveling in some premium trains on eco-friendly, disposable plates made of bagasse. Bagasse is the fibrous remains one gets during sugar production.
A Small Step to Beat Plastic Pollution: On #WorldEnvironmentDay, Indian Railways has started using fully biodegradable packages in 4 Shatabadi and 4 Rajadhani trains from Delhi, contributing towards a greener planet. pic.twitter.com/ILcwHN1wgK
— Piyush Goyal (@PiyushGoyal) June 5, 2018
To mark the occasion of #WorldEnvironmentDay and as a small step towards its contribution to greener environment, IRCTC has today introduced complete biodegradable containers #BeatPlasticPollution for serving of breakfast and meals in several Shatabdi and Rajdhani Trains. pic.twitter.com/HApjtK6TZ4
— Ministry of Railways (@RailMinIndia) June 5, 2018
Earlier this week, the Indian Railways had decided to implement it’s thirty-years-old baggage allowance policy more stringently.
The Logical Indian Take
We appreciate the Indian Railway’s move to opt for eco-friendly measures, as this will not only create awareness among passengers but also help in decreasing use of plastic in the railway stations.