Berhampur, To make the silk city free ban imposed on polythene bags and plastic in 2018,but to no avail.Subsequently in 2022 Berhampur Municipal Corporation (BeMC)has set up the plastic bottle recycling kiosk at the Old Bus Stand in the city.The machine was installed in collaboration with the Centre for Environment Education (CEE), an Ahmedabad-based organisation, and HDFC Bank.To woo the public,the organisation also offered 5 per cent discount on purchase of food items in two nearby hotels in exchange of plastic items.“Once a plastic bottle is dropped in the machine, the person will get a discount coupon and can buy food from the hotels on submitting the coupon,”.It functioned hardly for a month and now vanished in the thin year.Infact the place where the machine was installed,has been demolished in 2023 for construction of a mall and parking zone.Similarly,a machine was installed at platform no-1 at Berhampur railway station by Khurda road railway division in 2022.The machine was installed to encourage people to do away with the used plastic bottles and not to dump those in dustbins or drains.“Once a plastic bottle is dropped into the machine it will be crushed.The machine can gobble around 2,000 bottles.This machine,has financial benefit and the persons who drops a used plastic bottle needs to insert his phone number.It worked for couple of months,but the machine at the railway station too got defunct at the end of 2022.The irony is that the machine was manufactured by a indian company under Swatcha Mission.The railway division authorities repeatedly urged by the public,who in turn informed the company,but to no avail.Now the railway station authorities has removed the machine into a corner of the platform and the passengers throwing their used bottles as per their will and pleasure.Muna khatei,a rag picker of Lanjipalli area near the railway station says,he collects atleast 200 used plastic bottles from railway track everyday in an average.While the authorities of railway station said,it is the lookout of railway division,the division sources confimed the defunct of the machine since last year and said action will be taken.
