Pune: Discarding a carton after enjoying a refreshing beverage is rarely followed by the epiphany that it could be repurposed to fuel education for the next generation.But that is exactly what a city-based enterprise is trying to do. So far, the effort has led to recycling of close to 1 tonne of various cartons to turn into benches for a private govt-aided school in Chikhali.Pune-based carbon-negative social enterprise ProEarth has been working towards building zero-waste communities in urban India for 11 years now. In its most recent endeavour, the group is tying up with Tetra Pak India’s ‘GoGreen with Tetra Pak’ programme to promote sustainability and build awareness in a young audience.In the past nine months, ProEarth has collected and reused innumerable Tetra Pak cartons for its project. For every 10,500 cartons recycled, one bench is donated to a less privileged school as part of the initiative, which started in Mumbai over a decade ago.Pramod Jagtap, vice-principal at Sheshabai Ganage School in Krishananagar, Pimpri Chinchwad, said, “We received 35 benches in April, being used by students across pre-primary to Std IV. They made the children very happy. While they might not grasp the idea of how the benches were made, they are ecstatic to have a comfortable place to sit and study. We explained to them how the process is different. While Tetra Pak cartons are not something most of the households these children hail from buy, they have still started collecting other materials to us for recycling.“ProEarth founder Anil Gokarn said they have had some success in collecting the cartons through their recycling machines, which are set up at a few chain and local supermarkets across areas.“Our awareness sessions aimed at building momentum around this initiative cater to societies and companies, but we have had more success with the latter. Recycling cartons and handing them over to the centres requires behavioural change in terms of how they are cleaned, stored and then dropped off. This cannot change overnight. So, we are dedicated to influencing as many companies, societies and individuals as we can,” Gokarn said.Education outreach is a core focus — more than 3,600 students across 18 schools, 20,000 residents of societies and over 10,000 employees in 10 companies in Pune have joined the movement.Baner resident Smita Nanal and her 14-year-old son Angad are active participants in this fight to save the environment. “We have been practicing recycling as much as possible since Angad was eight years old and now he takes the initiative for the most part. He meticulously follows the process of cleaning, drying and collecting the cartons to then be dropped off at a ProEarth collection point,” Nanal said.“It is important that we teach our children early on a sustainable way of life as they are the next generation, who can truly bring out change. It will be their job to take the recycling and sustainable outlook to life one step ahead and so getting them used to it at a young age is a great way to induce eco-friendly attitudes,” she added.Beverage cartons are primarily made from paper. About 75% of the carton is made from paperboard, 20% polyethylene and 5% aluminium. The product and the package are sterilized separately, then combined and sealed in a sterile atmosphere. All parts of the carton are recyclable. Since aseptic packages contain different layers of plastic and aluminium in addition to raw paper, they cannot be recycled as “normal” paper waste. They need to go to special recycling units for separation of different materials. If not recycled, they could end up in landfills.Individuals are encouraged to deposit their used beverage cartons at 11 designated collection points across Pune, after following the simple process of ‘cut, clean, flatten, deposit and recycle’. This year alone, over 1 lakh cartons have been collected, diverting 800kg of waste from landfills.“Recycling material contaminated with food is extremely difficult and so following the process is very crucial. This has to be done at an individual level. Our biggest challenge at present is reaching individuals and societies via physical meetings. We are now using social media and other engaging tools to spread the message,” Gokarn added.Every time a bench is donated, ProEarth and RUR Greenlife share the achievement with their contributors to further inculcate the habit. The initiative is also supported by Reliance Smart Bazaar and Dorabjees in Pune.
