VIJAYAWADA: South Central Railway (SCR) has installed bottle shredding machines (BCMs) at railway stations across the zone. As many as 26 such plants were installed across Vijayawada Division—14 in Guntakal Division and four in Guntur Division.
The objective is to avoid use and throw of plastic bottles, especially at major railway stations where passenger footfall is more, according to SCR officials.
They said the usage of packaged drinking water, while travelling has increased over the years, especially during summer season. To mitigate the problem of accumulated plastic material and to strengthen the green environment, the Indian Railways has taken various initiatives to reduce, recycle and dispose of plastic waste generated in stations in an eco-friendly manner.
To give a push to these initiatives of eco-friendly disposal of plastic waste, a policy on installation of plastic bottle crushing machines (PBCM) at stations was introduced on September 27, 2019.
In addition to station premises, these bottle shredders are also installed in the Coach Maintenance Yard and Central Waste Collection Bin at important stations over the Zone to enable the cleaning staff to easily dispose of collected pet bottles, while cleaning the coach.