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GREEN JOURNEY

A CHAPTER IN GO GREEN HISTORY

Sahakari Bhandar focuses on making a significant social impact for the communities we serve. It is in our DNA. We ensure that every person working at Sahaki Bhandar is aware of importance of Social Responsibility. How we work together as a team and our customers are at the centre of what we do. Duty towards Mother Earth is a universal must and our job is to help spread the thought and generate action for it.

Our philosophy of dreamer and realist finds reflection in Sahakari Bhandar’s Go Green Journey. We are the thought leader along with Tetra Pak and RUR. It resulted in carefully orchestrated social awareness and participation drive – currently in its seventh year, it has turned out to be a pioneering example of mighty proportions.

TetraPak Cartons Recycling

The thinker / doer onus is shared by Sahakari Bhandar, TetraPak and Rur. It needs to be mentioned it would not have been possible without participation of people.

We are thankful to a very large base of socially aware Sahakari Bhandar patrons who have ‘adopted’ various Go Green activities. The success of innumerable and diverse events has made it a model example for Go Green movement.

Achievements -

  • Recycling of over 30,00,000 used TetraPak cartons.
  • Saved over 250 trees.
  • Donated 250 Desks & 70 Garden Benches made out of recycled TetraPak cartons to schools and housing societies.
  • Promoted Eco-friendly Ganesh Idols.
  • Played host to Robert Swan – the first man to have walked on North & South Pole.

Currently, 1 out of every 4 TetraPak cartons sold at Sahakari Bhandar stores is brought back for recycling. The response of Sahakari Bhandar patrons, their love to embrace such an important social cause has resulted in planning of events such as roadshows, cycle rallies, competitions, stage shows, cleanliness drives, promotion of eco-friendly Ganesha idols to name a few.

Sahakari Bhandar’s commitment for Go Green is total, and we contribute by way of planning, execution, promotion, hosting of events as well as bearing of expenses.

World renowned environmentalist Mr. Robert Swan – the only man in the world to have walked on North & South Poles – choose Sahakari Bhandar as host for his India tour. It speaks testimony to our walk on the Go Green path.

Pet Bottle Recycling

Approximately 72 million tonnes of hazardous waste is generated annually.

At the current rate 1 sq.km of additional landfill is needed each year to accommodate this waste.

Out of this waste, 30 million tonnes is plastic which takes hundreds of years to breakdown.

Wrong dispose of plastic is dangerous to the environment and has even entered our food chain.

Plastic waste is a big problem for Railways and society in general. Indian Railways (Mumbai suburban Western Railway) and Sahakari Bhandar installed bottle crushing machine at Church gate station. Wild West Innovation was our activity partner in this case. We created interest among commuters about this social activity by linking it to retail purchase related reward.

For example: Rs. 1 discount voucher is given per bottle recycled. After collection of 10 such coupons, customer gets Rs. 10 discount voucher which can be redeemed on purchase of Rs. 200 & above at our stores.

The machine is active and the commuters took instant liking to this activity. Through this program an average of 20 tons of plastic bottles are collected every month, from 89 machines.

Soon we realized this social event is steam rolling without the promise of retail reward. There is a plan to install similar bottle crushing machines in more locations.

Benefits of Bottle Crushing Machine

  • Reduces landfills and increases recycling rates.
  • Immediate reward for users on returning PET bottles, thereby motivating repeated use.
  • Shreds the bottle into flakes making it impossible for unethical reuse.
  • Flakes are used to make by-products such as t-shirts, bags, scarves, pillows etc.
  • Promotes the concept of recycling and inculcates a habit of recycling among people.

Bottle Crushing Machines available at below mentioned outlets.

  • SMART Sahakari Bhandar Colaba
  • SMART Sahakari Bhandar Agar Bazar
  • SMART Sahakari Bhandar Bandra
  • SMART Sahakari Bhandar Nallasopara
  • Sahakari Bhandar Chembur (Opp. Jain Mandir)

E-waste Recycling

Electronic waste, or e-waste, is a term for electronic products that have become unwanted, non-working or obsolete, and have essentially reached the end of their useful life. Because technology advances at such a high rate, many electronic devices become ‘trash’ after a few short years of use. Electronic scrap components, such as CPUs, contain potentially harmful materials such as lead, cadmium, beryllium, or brominated flame retardants. Great care must be taken to avoid unsafe exposure in recycling operations of e-waste material collected. The processes of dismantling and disposing of electronic waste can lead to environmental

impacts such as liquid and atmospheric releases ultimately ending up in water bodies, groundwater, soil, and air. It can make hazardous impact on land, sea animals, crops and drinking water.

A study of environmental effects found out:

  • Airborne dioxins – one type found at 100 times levels previously measured
  • Levels of carcinogens in duck ponds and rice paddies exceeded international standards for agricultural areas. Cadmium, copper, nickel, and lead levels in rice paddies were found to be above international standards
  • Heavy metals found in road dust – lead over 300 times that of a control village's road dust and copper over 100 times
  • A separate study found a presence of lead levels as high as 18,125 ppm in the soil.
  • US EPA standard for lead being 400 ppm and 1200 ppm for non-play areas.
Scrap workers regularly burn electronic components for copper recovery, releasing toxic chemicals like lead, dioxins and furans into the environment.

Knowing the gravity of the problem, Sahakari Bhandar decided to form a chain of e-waste collection centres across its outlets in Mumbai and Suburbs. We have trained our staff in collection and handling of e-waste.

Every month …… tons of e-waste is collected and sent for recycling or safe disposal. We have targeted young parents and nearby schools / colleges in this regard to help spread the message, to larger set of electronic products users.