Waste and brand audit exposes top polluters

A waste and brand audit of Bengaluru has found that up to 61% of the 12,000 pieces analysed are made up to multi-layered laminate packaging that is non-recyclable. The results reveal that both local and international brands are responsible for the growing stream of plastic packaging branded litter.

Environmental groups led by the Solid Waste Management Roundtable (SWMRT) had got together to conduct the audit in eight locations across the city. The audit was part of a pan-India activity coordinated by GAIA India, where 10 organisations and partners conducted clean-up and waste and brand audits in 18 states.

In Bengaluru, the audit was conducted from May 20 to 22 with over 120 volunteers in partnership with HasiruDala, Bangalore Eco Team, HSR Citizens Forum, Beautiful Bengaluru, Let’s Clean Bengaluru, Kasa Muktha Bellandur, Yelahanka Eco Group, Lal Bagh West Group and Swachha.

“The FMCG companies spend millions of rupees in creating deep penetration of their marketing networks and increasing their product sales. This has ended up releasing millions of packaging units into the environment, for someone else to clean up. What is needed is a network which will retrieve the packaging waste from every household or point where it is generated. The efforts of retrieval thus far, have been a drop in the ocean, says Sandya Narayanan, from SWMRT.

A leading firm topped the list of multinational food packaging, while big corporates figured in the list in personal care and household product packaging.

The report will be released at the KSPCB office on Saturday.