Now, commuters traveling by trains in Mumbai will be able to properly dispose and recycle their plastic bottles, thanks to the Swachh Bharat Team. As a part of PM Narendra Modi’s ‘Swachh Bharat’ scheme, Indian Railways has put up a ‘Swachh Bharat Recycle Machine’, which is a bottle/can recycling machine.

As a reward, every time people recycle, they will walk away with some form of a prize for the job well done. The first such machine was set up at the Churchgate railway station last year and has since been a hit with the tens of thousands who traverse the station on a daily basis.

Mumbai Central, Dadar, Bandra (local), Bandra terminus, Santacruz, Andheri, Goregaon, Borivali, and Bhayandar are some of the stations that are selected as the other places to install recycling machines. With this initiative used plastic water bottles on tracks may become a thing of the past.

One machine can crush 500 bottles and it will only accept bottles/cans with authentic barcodes. Users will get an instant ‘reward’ when recycling used containers, motivating repeated use. The machines themselves don’t look much different from standard vending machines and are as big as basic refrigerators.

The user has to feed an empty plastic bottle into the machine and it will be processed and then crushed. It will later be recovered and recycled. Once the bottle is slotted, the user also gets a reward in the form of discount coupons from Sahakari Bhandar and Reliance Fresh Stores. They can also opt for Paytm credit points or choose to donate the equivalent money.

“With advertising on just one machine, the Railways can add Rs 2,20,000. With these machines, cleanliness can be maintained at the stations, helping PM’s Swacch Bharat project and revenue for railways can be churned out,” Mukul Jain, Western Railways Divisional Railway Manager told FE Online said.

Jain also told FE Online that no money was spent by the Western Railway to install the machine. In fact, this machine can help add revenue to the Indian Railways by letting them advertise on the side panels and the LED screen.

The machines are being provided by Wockhardt Foundation. The cost of one machine is Rs 7 lakh. However, Wockhardt is still in talks with various corporations to tie up for rewards.

The plastic that gets accumulated in these machines will be sent to fiber manufacturing companies once they are treated. They will then be used in the manufacture of clothes or grocery bags or similar items. So, the next time you see one of these in Mumbai, you know what to chuck at them.

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