What started an year ago as an experiment has begun to show results. The empty milk packets which we throw away in dustbins everyday can serve a good purpose, this realisation dawned on Dr Navjot Kaur, Principal, Sri Guru Gobind Singh College, Sector 26, Chandigarh, who started this initative in her own college first. Then it culminated into a mission with 15 other schools and colleges across the Tricity joining in.
We have all heard of recycling of wastes, but beginning this at the preliminary college and school level sends the right signals to budding minds who can be sensitized to preservation of Nature and our surroundings.
“I got to know about this innovative technology through newspapers which three women in Mumbai are using to recycle empty milk packets,” says Dr Navjot Kaur.
Eco Scouts, a student wing of Dharat Suhavi Environment Society in the college, students and the staff of the school started getting empty packets, washed and dried to school for the project, the others followed. Once about 10 kg of empty packets are collected, a scrap collection company, ScrapBuk Services based in Mohali, collects it from the college and couriers it to Mumbai where they are recycled in a plant.
The process
The collected milk packets are cleaned with water and dried. The packets are shred into small pieces, after which small granules of plastic are compressed with machines and reformed into different kinds of plastics that can be reused in making baskets, packets, ropes and many more usable items.
Point to ponder
Never cut the milk packet at the corner with scissors, as normally everybody does, as it becomes very harmful in this form if any animal or human being ingests it by mistake. Always make a slit in the milk packet to empty its contents.
