The Rs 6 lakh milk ATM, financed by Tata group through their CSR funds, was started a little over a month ago near Gate Bazar in Berhampur, Odisha. On average, the ATM dispenses 250 litres of pasteurised milk daily. The users consist of students, wage labourers and households.
Wanting to tackle the issue of plastic milk pouches and bottles, Maharashtra became the first and only state in the country to introduce a buyback policy for milk pouches and PET bottles where a customer will be charged extra 50 paise for a milk pouch and Re 1 for a plastic bottle. This money gets refunded once the pouch is returned to the retailer you bought it from. Read more
here.
State governments in India need to scale up their recycling game as plastic is ubiquitous, and despite recycling systems in place, not all plastic gets recycled.
Chitra Mukherjee, head of programmes of the environmental research and action group – Chintan told India Today, “Not all milk and buttermilk pouches are picked up by rag pickers. Those that are soiled have a lesser value. As a result, they idle on landfills for years and when they catch fire, as it often happens in summers, the chlorinated plastic on burning produces cancer causing-furans and dioxins.
Welcoming the move, Girish Prajapati, a daily-wage labourer, said that the ATM helps with his hunger pangs, “I usually work at odd hours, either early morning or late in the night when the shops are shut. The best part is that I do not have to buy the entire milk pouch. Two hundred fifty ml for Rs 10 at any time of the day is a great deal for me.”
The district administration will soon open another milk ATM in MKCG Medical College and Hospital for the patients and visitors. Other ATMs will be installed in public places that the administration is currently identifying.
“It is a feasible solution and a win-win situation for all. Plastic pouches are avoided, and quality milk is provided at standardised rates. It is getting a positive response from the people,” Kulange adds.