South Central Railway installs plastic bottle shredders

Secunderabad: Usage of packaged drinking water during travel in trains has enormously increased, especially in summer season. Railway stations are the places which witness mass accumulation of used water bottles and maintenance of cleanliness has become a Herculean task. Disposal of the empty water bottles has become a major hurdle in the implementation of environment-friendly waste disposal system.

• Carrying plastic wastage to dump yards and proper disposal was a challenge

• SCR installs 22 bottle shredding machines at many stations in the twin cities

• At present, around 900 bottles being shredded by passengers themselves

• Shredded pieces collect in bottom tray of machines and same can be recycled

Secunderabad, Hyderabad, Kacheguda, Lingampalli and other major suburban stations located in heart of the twin cities witness huge footfall of passengers and usage of water bottles is also very high. Carrying plastic wastage to dump yards and proper disposal was a challenging task for environment-friendly system.

To mitigate the problem of accumulated plastic material and helping greener environment, Secunderabad Division of South Central Railway has installed 22 bottle shredding machines at different railway stations in the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad.

The bottle shredders are installed through funds provided under the corporate social responsibility (CSR). The list of stations with number of bottle shredder machines installed is: Secunderabad (12); Hyderabad (5); Necklace Road (1); Begumpet (1); Hafizpet (1); Hi-Tec City (1) and Lingampalli (1).

The South Central Railway is creating awareness amongst passengers for utilising the Bottle Shredders Machines to dispose the used water bottles. At present, some 600 bottles are being shredded by the passengers themselves at Secunderabad Station and some 300 bottles at Hyderabad station per day.

The shredded pieces thus collected in the bottom tray of the machines and the same material can be used to recycle in an environment-friendly manner. These bottle crushing machines are user-friendly and each bottle is shredded into pieces in 3 to 5 seconds.

In addition to station premises, these bottle shredders are also installed in the Coach Maintenance Yard and Central Waste Collection Bin at Secunderabad station to enable the cleaning staff to easily dispose collected pet bottles while cleaning the coach.

Rail users are appreciating the concern of Railways towards protection of environment and to avoid reuse of empty bottles. All the passengers visiting these stations are using these bottle shredders extensively and promoting novel idea of Railways.

South Central Railway is appealing to the customers to cooperate with Railways to take forward this momentum at all the stations under its jurisdiction and contribute to the greener environment.