Mumbai: After the plastic ban on March 23, most packaged drinking water and cold drink bottles, including PepsiCo, Coca-Cola and Bisleri, have started printing buyback prices on PET bottles for sale in Maharashtra. The move comes after the state government exempted PET bottles from the ban on the condition that manufacturers print a buyback price on the products, which would help deposit used plastic bottles for recycling.
“We allowed manufacturing companies to keep the buyback value flexible. Consumers can return the used bottles and the buyback price will be paid to them,” said Sanjay Sandanshiv, undersecretary, state env-ironment department.
Reportedly, beverage companies have fixed the buyback price at Rs 15 per kg of the bottles. Moreover, Bisleri too has started working on the buyback price of Rs 1 for 500 ml packaged water bottles. “We have already started the ‘plastic for change’ initiative in our company, where we are collecting used plastic bottles as donations from the public. We are also introducing the buyback price on packaged drinking water,” said a Bisleri spokesperson.
The responsibility of recycling the banned plastic bottles lies with the manufacturers. The state government has also mandated that the bottles have the name of the retailer and code, along with the buyback price.
