In light of the Maharashtra environment ministry directive to milk producers to start recycling plastic waste, suppliers across the state are expected to roll out a buy-back scheme to incentivise the initiative. While the Chitale Group has already rolled it out to 5,000 consumers in Pune, players in Mumbai, like Gokul Milk, are likely to follow soon.
Explaining the current buy-back plan, Indranil Chitale, owner of Chitale Group, said, "The consumer has to first register with the Reloop App that creates a UZED account. Then they have to ensure that the collected milkbags are washed and dried. Once they collect around two kg of the bags, they can either drop them at our collection and recycling centre or can request for pick-up via the app. The points they earn are added to their UZED account, which can be redeemed for gift cards from Big Bazaar, Pantaloon, Lifestyle, Titan and other top brands." He added that while they have added only 5,000 customers on a trial basis, they intend to connect with around one lakh consumers by the end of the month.
Speaking to DNA, Ramdas Kadam, state environment minister said, sooner or later, the milk suppliers have to follow the buy-back and recycling order, adding, "We have to save Earth for our next generation. In Maharashtra alone, over 35 tonne of milk bags waste is generated daily. This is huge and we have to recycle it. We had a meeting with all major milk suppliers and they have agreed to implement the decision."
Meanwhile, Dattatray Ghanekar, MD at Gokul Milk said they plan to launch the buy-back initiative soon. "We supply 12 lakh litre of milk every day. We are going to have a meeting with our board members and this initiative will be started soon," Ghanekar said.
According to Prakash Kutwal, secretary of Maharashtra State Milk Producers and Processors Welfare Association, a majority of milk suppliers have agreed to implement the recycling and buyback offer. "Pune generates around 12 tonne waste. We are planning to set up a 30-lakh tonne plastic recycling plant, so apart from the milkbags, we can also consider recycling other plastics," said Kutwal.
Maharashtra’s Plastic Trail
Milk suppliers across the state hope to recycle discarded milkbags
- 35tonne Per day milkbag waste
- 2 cr litre Daily milk supply in state
- 85 L litre Milk for consumption use
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