Recycled Tetra Pak carton benches to raise consumer awareness

To raise awareness on recycling, the Office of District Collector, Mumbai set up benches made of repurposed Tetra Pak cartons in the visitor area. These were installed on 19 September under the guidance of Nidhi Choudhary, district collector and district magistrate, and Vikas Naik, additional district magistrate.

28 Sep 2022 | By Pooja Mahesh

Nidhi Choudhary, district collector and district magistrate, Mumbai

Setting up benches made from recycled Tetra Pak cartons shows how waste can be recycled and be made into something useful like bags, benches and even perhaps desks. 

“At Mumbai suburban, we are committed to protecting the planet, and I strongly believe that recycling can be a powerful tool in this mission. We are pleased to have these benches made of recycled Tetra Pak cartons on our premises, and hope that it will inspire citizens to, firstly, choose environmentally friendly recyclable products and then segregate their waste to support recycling,” said Choudhary. 

During her stint as joint commissioner at Municipal Corporation Greater Mumbai, Choudhary was instrumental in implementing various legislations on waste management. She advocates 3Rs (Reuse, Refuse and Recycle) in her personal and professional life.

Through better waste segregation and recycling, it is possible to reduce the amount of waste being dumped by 85 to 90%. The district has introduced many interventions for source segregation of waste and recycling over the past few years. These benches made of recycled Tetra Pak cartons are a perfect example to enable consumers to adopt recycling. 

To shed light on the importance of recycling, Tetra Pak has been running an awareness campaign called Go Green with Tetra Pak since 2010 in Mumbai. In this campaign, 54 Reliance Retail stores and other locations like RWAs, schools and churches act as drop-off points for consumers to give the cartons for recycling. So far, the campaign has helped in collecting and recycling over 9.5 million cartons, donating nearly 400 desks and over one lakh other recycled products to less privileged schools. In addition, over 300 garden benches have been gifted to various housing societies, parks and other public places across Mumbai.