Hyderabad: 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 environmental friendly waste disposal system.
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 environmental 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 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 Tech City 1 and Lingampalli 1.
South Central Railway was creating awareness amongst passengers for utilizing 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 environmental 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. (NSS)
