Companies pledge to beat plastic pollution

NEW DELHI: Several companies like Coca-cola, Infosys and Hilton among others have pledged to address the growing problem of plastic pollution.

The government is sensitising the issue on the occasion of the World Environment Day on June 5 with the theme 'Beat plastic pollution'.

"We have pledged to recover and recycle one package for every single one that we put out in the market by 2030," Coca-cola India and South West Asia Vice-president (Public Affairs and Communications) Ishteyaque Amjad said.

The company is committed towards making all of its packaging recyclable. "We started that journey in India a few years ago and we will work hard to achieve our goal before the timeline," he said in a statement. Listing out the initiatives, the company said its bottling partner, Hindustan Coca-cola Beverages has already kickstarted a recycling project in Mumbai and Goa to be followed by Bhopal on the World Environment Day.

The project in partnership with United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Indian Centre for Plastic in the Environment (ICPE) and Stree Mukti Sanghatana (NGO) focuses on creating a circular economy for plastic waste by generating value out of used plastic, thereby reducing litter. Among other measures, the company said it is also promoting and facilitating source segregation in residential and commercial establishments in partnership with Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), Tetra Pak and NGO Saahas.

Similarly, IT giant Infosys has pledged to make its campuses non-recyclable plastics-free by 2020. The company has also committed to reduce the per capita generation of plastic waste by 50 per cent in the same year.