Plastic bottle crusher machine gathers dust in Mohali market

A plastic bottle crusher machine installed at Phase 3B2 booth market in Mohali is in disuse for a longtime. The machine that runs by electricity supply is non-functional with plastic waste and bottles littered around it.

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While massive campaigns have been launched against pollution caused by plastic, shopkeepers say the machine has been rarely used to crush plastic bottles. “Probably, the location of the machine is not appropriate. There is hardly any footfall in the booth market. Had the bottle crusher machine been placed in the main market, it may have been useful,” said Lokesh Kumar, a local resident.

Area councillor and Mohali Deputy Mayor Kuljit Singh Bedi said a lone bottle crusher machine and an indifferent attitude cannot solve Mohali’s plastic waste problem.

Former minister Balbir Singh Sidhu had inaugurated the machine, which was installed by Punjab State Council for Science & Technology and Punjab Pollution Control Board, on April 9, 2021.

Officials had said the manufacturer of the machines had tied up with corporates. A person using the machine for crushing bottle would get discount and cashback. Residents said the segregation of garbage was another issue that had been plaguing the city for the past many years with no tangible effort made to make the city clean and green.

Markets, residential areas and areas along roads and water bodies are littered with garbage and plastic waste.

Heaps of garbage on Airport Road, Phase 5 and near Motor Market have become the bane of the residents here.

A city-based environmentalist said though there was a complete ban on single-use plastic, it had remained on paper only.

“The city is facing an unprecedented crisis of garbage and plastic waste disposal for the last one year. The Municipal Corporation, GMADA and residents, to a large extent, seem unconcerned to resolve this ever-increasing mess,” said Ward 37 councillor Sukhdev Patwari.

Ward 2 councillor Manjit Sethi, “The segregation of garbage at door is the key to solve the problem. It is being done effectively in Chandigarh. Why it cannot be done in Mohali?”