North MCD installs plastic bottle flaking machines in Karol Bagh

Usually, the disposed plastic bottles end up at landfills where they do not decompose for years, or they clog sewers.

The next time you’re shopping in Karol Bagh market and need to dispose a plastic bottle, look out for a ‘Reverse Vending Machine’ (RVM) at the median of the Ajmal Khan Road installed by the north Delhi municipal corporation. The machines will not only safely store the used bottles and send them for recycling, but fetch you a discount coupon at the nearest restaurant or salon as well.

A child tries the ‘reverse vending machine’. (HT Photo)

Usually, the disposed plastic bottles end up at landfills where they do not decompose for years, or they clog sewers. When burnt, they generate carcinogenic gases such as furans and dioxins. Delhi generates 689 tonnes of plastic waste per day, as per a Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) report, of which used bottles form a huge chunk.

As part of the initiative of making the road pedestrian-only and for its beautification drive, the north corp recently installed five such RVMs at Ajmal Khan Road. The road was closed for vehicles in April this year and garden lamps and benches for visitors were installed on the median.

Deputy commissioner of the north corporation, Karol Bagh zone, Ira Singhal, said, “We tied up with this company called Biocrux, which is based in Mumbai, to install the RVMs. They have already set up such machines at malls, pubs, railway stations and airports in over 25 cities in India including Jammu, Chandigarh, Alwar and Hyderabad.”

“The RVMs have internal motors that create flakes by cutting up the bottles into small pieces of 10 mm x 10 mm size to reduce their volume. These later go to factories to be granulated and turned into t-shirts, caps, doormats and such products which use synthetic fibre,” she said.

The RVMs, after ‘flaking,’ can store up to 1,000 plastic bottles of one litre capacity in the medium size machines at a time. One can drop in a bottle of a maximum of 2.5 litre. The display monitor on the machine asks the user for their mobile number and sends the user a code which can be used on a digital payment mobile app.

This is the second time RVM machines have been installed anywhere in the national Capital. Around 10 such machines were set up at Connaught Place by the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) in 2017, some of which accepted aluminium cans and thermocol cups as well. Officials said as of now, only six such machines are functional, which have processed at least 20,000 plastic bottles.

“Five such machines will soon be set up at Kamla Nagar market as well and a few at Chandni Chowk,” Ira Singhal said.