To reduce the amount of plastic that ends up in landfills and water bodies, and at the same time promote sustainability, packaged water company Bisleri International under its sustainability initiative has introduced a program “Bottles for Change” initiative, which includes a mobile app to connect citizens, plastic collection agents, and recyclers to promote plastic recycling in India.
Under the initiative, it collected and recycled over 19,300 tonnes of plastics, K. Ganesh, director – sustainability & corporate affairs at Bisleri International, said at the Mint Sustainability Summit 2025.
“The plastic once used should be disposed and sent for recycling,” said Ganesh, pointing to the fact that this doesn’t happen because people mostly litter plastic after consumption, which then goes to the landfill or oceans.
Promoting circular economy
“Our plastic waste management program educates and empowers citizens to practise source segregation, responsible disposal of post-consumer plastic, and to ensure all used plastic is sent for recycling to promote a circular economy, thus eliminating plastics from landfills and reaching our oceans,” Ganesh said.
The company also has an app for the initiative, through which “we collect used plastics from registered stakeholders and channel them to recycling facilities, where bottles are transformed into new products and even reborn as bottles again. Multilayer plastics are repurposed into durable plastic sheets, ensuring every piece finds a second life”, said Ganesh.
According to Ganesh, all PET (polyethylene terephthalate) bottles being used by Bisleri or other beverage companies can be recycled and converted into fibre yarn, which can be used to make fabric and dress materials.
PET bottles can also be recycled to manufacture rPET (recycled PET), which is used to make bottles for food grade packaging applications, by causing less strain on natural resources.
The government regulations for extended producer responsibility (EPR) require producers, importers, and brand owners to manage the post-consumer waste of their products.
In India, this is mandated under rules like the Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016, and involves mandatory registration, submitting EPR action plans, achieving annual recycling targets, and reporting on their efforts.
The goal is to promote a circular economy, reduce waste, and ensure environmentally responsible disposal of products like plastic packaging, e-waste, and batteries.
Bisleri also collected bottle caps and made benches of them.
“The benches are made with 60 kgs of only our caps. We haven’t used any pigments or any colour. Through this we are collecting all our caps, which has been used in our manufacturing facilities,” Ganesh added.
