Pune railway station to get plastic bottle crushing machine

The officials added that with every bottle crushed, the machine offers some coupon providing discount to the user, which is a huge hit among passengers.

With a view to encourage passengers to dispose off plastic bottles in an environment friendly manner, the Pune railway administration has decided to install plastic bottle crushers at the Pune railway station soon.

Railway officials said that plastic bottle crushing machines were first installed at a few stations in Mumbai last year mainly to prevent people from throwing used plastic water bottles on the railway tracks.(HT FILE PHOTO)

Krishnath Patil, senior divisional commercial manager, Pune railway division, said, "There is a plan to get a plastic bottle crusher machine for the railway station. We will get one from the Indian railway catering and tourism corporation, (IRCTC). This will help solve the issue of littering of plastic water bottles on the station premises to some extent." 

Railway officials said that plastic bottle crushing machines were first installed at a few stations in Mumbai last year mainly to prevent people from throwing used plastic water bottles on the railway tracks. 

The officials added that with every bottle crushed, the machine offers some coupon providing discount to the user, which is a huge hit among passengers. 

Following the success of these machines, more such machines are now being installed across various stations in Central Railway including Pune. 

When contacted, Harsha Shah of Railway Pravasi Group, said, "There are plans to install a total of 60 plastic bottle crushing machines across Mumbai. Considering the footfall of passengers at the Pune railway station, which is around three lakh to four lakh during peak season, having just one machine would not be sufficient. Every day close to 10,000 units of bottled water might be sold at the railway station and one machine would not be able to take so much load.” 

Shah said that efforts should be made to install many machines at various locations across the station, so that the issue of people throwing plastic bottles on the tracks is reduced. She added that at platforms where the plastic bottle crushing machine is not available, some alternate arrangement must be made to ensure that bottles do not get thrown on the tracks.