Cleanup Plastic Waste Along Tracks of Indian Railways
Cleanup Plastic Waste Along Tracks of Indian Railways
The Issue
Growing up in an Indian Railways family, I have witnessed the beauty and charm of our railway system. However, recent train rides across India (such as one recent travel from Ernakulam, Kerala in the south to Mumbai, Maharashtra in the west to Haridwar, Uttarakhand in the north and Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh in the east) have been marred by an unimaginable level of plastic trash strewn endlessly alongside tracks. This sight has been profoundly sad and heartbreaking, prompting my search for practical solutions to cleanup, restore our environment and revive the pride and joy associated with travels on Indian Railways.
The volume of single-use plastic waste seen along all railway tracks and stations from coast to coast on all major travel corridors is staggering. A Google image search of "India Railway Track Waste" captures the unimaginable scale of the problem. It poses not only an aesthetic problem but also threatens our precious environment with irreparable damage of non-biodegradable plastics. According to a study by Science Advances, India generates about 26,000 tonnes of plastic waste daily (Source: Science Advances). A significant portion ends up in places where it shouldn't be - like our beloved railways.
Some solutions to address this problem are relatively simple, practical and efficient requiring only a will and a very nominal budget to implement them from the Indian Railways authorities.
A private-public partnership can go a long way to address this expeditiously as well with an "Adopt-A-Railway" or "Adopt-A-Station" scheme for all stations across India. Private entities clean up a segment and in return get to advertise their pre-approved offerings at designated locations within a station.
Empower Station Masters at all stations across India to rally local residents to help clear plastics within a 2 to 5mile range of the station on either direction. Remuneration can be in the form of a free train ride vouchers for families or monetary rewards from recycling entities or other viable schemes. Collected plastics can be loaded on to a coach of a train to be transported to regional recycling centers.
A viable technology solution is to attach an industrial strength vaccum cleaner hose on wheels on either side of an already existing "track, line and signal maintenance vehicle" that periodically run on local railway segments and have it suck in plastics within couple of meter distance of railroad tracks. If a shredder can be incorporated the waste volume can be reduced to have it bagged within the maintenance coach. This is much like exsiting and proven mechanised cleaning vehicles used to clear roadside trash.
Government regulations and incentives for large multi national corporations to migrate from single use plastics to bio-degradable packaging for the myriad snacks and drinks such as potato chips and soft drinks sold by countless vendors across India including at stations.
The Integral Coach Factory in Chennai should incorporate an efficient and simple vacuum cleaning attachments to wheel frames of select coaches of a passenger or goods trains.
Drive behavioral changes to buy only bio-degradable packages from station or train vendors and to refrain from throwing used empty plastic packages or bottles out the window of a running train. Train compartments to be equipped with large enough waste disposal bags.
Local government officials such as MLA's, MPs, District Collectors, Tahsildars can play a significant role in promoting, supporting and facilitating such initiatives in their local constituencies to revive a national spirit of Swachh Bharath at the grass roots level. Need immediate action from the authorities responsible for maintaining cleanliness along these lines - primarily the Ministry of Railways.
Contribute your own solutions and ideas so that the most promising and economical solution can be implemented by the Indian Railways expeditiously to help save our environment and in turn make Indian Railways the envy of the world.
Key people (from Wikipedia): Narendra Modi (Prime Minister of India); Ashwini Vaishnaw (Minister for Railways); Jaya Varma Sinha, IRTS (Chairperson and CEO) and General Managers of Divisional and Zonal Railways.
Let us collectively protect our environment from irreversible damage caused by plasitcs while reviving the joyous experience that train travel in India.
Sign this petition today and contribute your time and resources to help bring about this much-needed change!
Share with like minded friends to drive solutions. "BE THE CHANGE YOU WANT TO SEE" - Mahatma Gandhi
34
The Issue
Growing up in an Indian Railways family, I have witnessed the beauty and charm of our railway system. However, recent train rides across India (such as one recent travel from Ernakulam, Kerala in the south to Mumbai, Maharashtra in the west to Haridwar, Uttarakhand in the north and Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh in the east) have been marred by an unimaginable level of plastic trash strewn endlessly alongside tracks. This sight has been profoundly sad and heartbreaking, prompting my search for practical solutions to cleanup, restore our environment and revive the pride and joy associated with travels on Indian Railways.
The volume of single-use plastic waste seen along all railway tracks and stations from coast to coast on all major travel corridors is staggering. A Google image search of "India Railway Track Waste" captures the unimaginable scale of the problem. It poses not only an aesthetic problem but also threatens our precious environment with irreparable damage of non-biodegradable plastics. According to a study by Science Advances, India generates about 26,000 tonnes of plastic waste daily (Source: Science Advances). A significant portion ends up in places where it shouldn't be - like our beloved railways.
Some solutions to address this problem are relatively simple, practical and efficient requiring only a will and a very nominal budget to implement them from the Indian Railways authorities.
A private-public partnership can go a long way to address this expeditiously as well with an "Adopt-A-Railway" or "Adopt-A-Station" scheme for all stations across India. Private entities clean up a segment and in return get to advertise their pre-approved offerings at designated locations within a station.
Empower Station Masters at all stations across India to rally local residents to help clear plastics within a 2 to 5mile range of the station on either direction. Remuneration can be in the form of a free train ride vouchers for families or monetary rewards from recycling entities or other viable schemes. Collected plastics can be loaded on to a coach of a train to be transported to regional recycling centers.
A viable technology solution is to attach an industrial strength vaccum cleaner hose on wheels on either side of an already existing "track, line and signal maintenance vehicle" that periodically run on local railway segments and have it suck in plastics within couple of meter distance of railroad tracks. If a shredder can be incorporated the waste volume can be reduced to have it bagged within the maintenance coach. This is much like exsiting and proven mechanised cleaning vehicles used to clear roadside trash.
Government regulations and incentives for large multi national corporations to migrate from single use plastics to bio-degradable packaging for the myriad snacks and drinks such as potato chips and soft drinks sold by countless vendors across India including at stations.
The Integral Coach Factory in Chennai should incorporate an efficient and simple vacuum cleaning attachments to wheel frames of select coaches of a passenger or goods trains.
Drive behavioral changes to buy only bio-degradable packages from station or train vendors and to refrain from throwing used empty plastic packages or bottles out the window of a running train. Train compartments to be equipped with large enough waste disposal bags.
Local government officials such as MLA's, MPs, District Collectors, Tahsildars can play a significant role in promoting, supporting and facilitating such initiatives in their local constituencies to revive a national spirit of Swachh Bharath at the grass roots level. Need immediate action from the authorities responsible for maintaining cleanliness along these lines - primarily the Ministry of Railways.
Contribute your own solutions and ideas so that the most promising and economical solution can be implemented by the Indian Railways expeditiously to help save our environment and in turn make Indian Railways the envy of the world.
Key people (from Wikipedia): Narendra Modi (Prime Minister of India); Ashwini Vaishnaw (Minister for Railways); Jaya Varma Sinha, IRTS (Chairperson and CEO) and General Managers of Divisional and Zonal Railways.
Let us collectively protect our environment from irreversible damage caused by plasitcs while reviving the joyous experience that train travel in India.
Sign this petition today and contribute your time and resources to help bring about this much-needed change!
Share with like minded friends to drive solutions. "BE THE CHANGE YOU WANT TO SEE" - Mahatma Gandhi
34
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Petition created on May 8, 2024