CB Dehradun: Polythene Kachra Bank

Cantonment Bord Dehradun has started a Polythene Kachra Bank in the Dehradun Cantt to tackle plastic waste, which is India’s first Polythene Kachra Bank. The bank was inaugurated on 25 September 2023 by the state’s Urban Development Minister Premchand Aggarwal this year to eradicate waste from Dehradun Cantonment and recycle the waste into useful products such as benches, tree guards, ply board and dustbins. This Polythene Kachra bank and a waste management company have come together to ensure that every piece of plastic is recycled.
This Polythene Kachra bank and a waste management company called Shayna Eco Unified from NOIDA have come together to ensure that every piece of plastic is recycled. Shayna Eco Unified is a company started in 2015 to reduce the dumping of plastics in the environment. There are several rag pickers, slum
dwellers and locals who come to deposit the garbage i.e. chips wrapper, polythene packing bags, polythene sacks etc in the Kachra bank and they are offered Rs 5 for every kilogram of waste. There are three Polythene Kachra Banks (two in Garhi Cantt and one in Premnagar Cantt) where people can deposit the garbage between 10 am and 5 pm.
The bank wants to ensure that the garbage is not dumped into the ditches. There have been awareness drives for this project undertaken through pamphlets and loudspeaker announcements. Here a slum dweller is depositing a day’s collection of waste at the garbage bank. said, “This initiative of establishing three Polythene Kachra Banks in Dehradun is laudable. The Polythene Banks thus provide a viable and functional platform to the citizens of Dehradun to collect their plastic waste and hand it over to a proper outlet”.
The polythene waste collected is then used for manufacturing High Density Composite Polymer (HDCP) tiles, boards etc. The Cantonment Board purchases minimum 70 tons to maximum 100 tons of polythene waste every month.
People can store polythene waste in the corner of their house and go to the nearest “Polythene Kachra Bank” any day of the month for sale of polythene waste. Apart from this the polythene waste can also be given to the person collecting garbage from home.
Polythene, wrappers etc. From the bags bulk of waste which is strewn across streets and adversely impact the aesthetic look of the Cantonment. This is kind of waste which until now has not been picked by the rag pickers. Rag pickers are more interested to pick items like PET bottles, glass, metal etc. as they are saleable at the local scrap vendor. Now with option of Polythene Kachra Bank, these rag pickers have been coming for selling the polythene waste at rate of Rs. 5 per Kg. They scout the Cantonment and nearby areas for this waste and it helps keep the areas cleaner as polythene waste is picked by them.
Mostly female rag pickers are attached with this initiative. Cantonment Board utilized its two defunct Toll booth rooms and two locations of Cantonment Board Office in Garhi and Cantonment sub office in Premnagar for establishment of Polythene Kachra Bank. Some minimal equipment like electronic weighing machine, table-chair, Stationary was given to the employees sitting at these collection centres.
Baling machines were installed at places where all the collected polythene waste was being brought. From this place ‘Bales’ of polythene waste are loaded into vehicle brought by the company.