Ahead of ‘Global Recycling Day’, to be observed on 18 March, Shimla Municipal Corporatiom and Tetra Pak India have collobrated to launch donation and recycling awareness drive in Shimla.

As part of the drive on Wednesday, they donated 20 desks to the Government Senior Secondary School, Chotta Shimla, in addition to the 20 garden benches and 10 bins that would be installed along the Mall Road Shimla and other prominent locations.

All these items have been made from recycled carton packages which have been donated as a part of Tetra Pak’s ongoing efforts to sensitize the public about waste segregation and recycling.

Speaking on the occasion Urban Development, Town and Country Planning Minister, Suresh Bhardwaj expressed hope that such efforts would go a long way in not only keeping Shimla clean, but also proper waste management and recycling it into a valuable resource.

He also flagged off the donations by unveiling the first recycled bench on the Mall Road, Shimla.

Bhardwaj also handed over the desks to the Principal of Government Senior Secondary School, Chotta Shimla.

Tetra Pak South Asia, Director Sustainability, Jaideep Gokhale disclosing about the initiative informed that the Tetra Pak has been promoting the recycling of carton packages for many years, including the donation of thousands of recycled items to beneficiaries accross the country.

“The Tetra Pak cartons are paper-based, recyclable and have the lowest carton footprint among all other packaging materials used for similar food products. So when we choose carton packaging, we are already making a positive choice,” he said, adding that it is also aimed at inspiring the public to consider used cartons not as a waste but as a valuable resource that can be recycled to turn them into useful items of daily use.

The segregated used cartons from the waste also ensures that the waste pickers earn an additional livelihood and the used cartons from the waste gets recycled into many useful items like benches, desk, bins,roofing sheets and many other useful items, he added.

He further said, “donating such recycled products to the local community is a great way to showcase how simple conscious act of waste segregation and recycling can create a positive ripple effort on the community.”