The two females, even so, took it upon themselves to appear deeper into the issue, study and eradicate the quite root trigger of plastic menace in the city. The initially issue they did was to start out the initiative from their personal households.
Farida and Arwa studied the method of plastic segregation and recycling and tied up with Bisleri — Bottles for Change initiative for recycling the plastic collected by them. “We gathered in our masjid complex in Marol and reached out to other community members in the area and urged them to segregate plastic waste regularly. We installed bins in our society, where people drop plastic waste, which is collected by Bisleri every week for recycling. We are all responsible for plastic pollution, but by working together, we can turn the tide against plastic pollution,” Farida stated.
“It is very human to choose the easiest option available, throwing plastic in the dustbin along with other waste is our easiest option. The difficult one is to segregate plastic, clean it and dispose it off in a separate bin to be sent for recycling. Difficult, but beneficial for our future is what we thought. Plastic pollution is choking our marine ecosystem, wildlife and human health and is also directly making an impact on our lives. It’s time we choose the difficult option and make it our habit,” stated Arwa.
After counselling the slum dwellers in Bhandarwada, the duo and their volunteers managed to gather 300 kg of plastic waste throughout 5 to six months just before lockdown. They strategy to extend it additional and are working to cover whole Bhandarwada slum which roughly has 2500 households.