PET bottle recycling, cloth bag initiatives fizzle out as city drowns in plastic

Mysore/Mysuru: Launched under the banner ‘Reuse for a Better Tomorrow,’ the Mysuru City Corporation’s (MCC) ambitious PET bottle recycling project promised to transform public participation in plastic waste management through incentives.

But a year after its launch, the project has quietly faded from view, with machines lying idle and no visible expansion.

This lapse comes even as Mysuru recently secured third place in the national Super Swachh City League — a recognition that belies the ground reality of unregulated plastic bottle disposal across the city, particularly PET bottles used for packaged water and soft drinks.

Project never took off

The recycling initiative, unveiled last year by then Commissioner Ashaad-ur-Rahman Shariff, began with a symbolic act — depositing a plastic bottle into the city’s first recycling machine placed in front of the MCC office. The plan envisioned similar machines at bus stands and other high-footfall areas to encourage widespread participation.

Mysuru, which generates around 500 tonnes of waste daily, of which 25 percent is plastic, sought to tackle this burden by offering Re. 1 for every two PET bottles deposited. The scheme aimed to incentivise citizens to collect and return bottles rather than discard them irresponsibly.

However, the project stalled within months. Lack of sustained funding and administrative follow-through meant no further machines were installed, and public awareness campaigns fizzled out. Today, the lone machine remains the only reminder of an idea that never scaled.

Similar fate for cloth bag machines

In a parallel bid to curb plastic bag usage, MCC also proposed vending machines dispensing cloth bags at a nominal cost. The concept was simple: citizens could either scan a QR code and pay Rs. 10 via UPI or insert two Rs. 5 or one Rs. 10 coin to receive a cloth bag.

This initiative too failed to progress beyond the pilot stage. No vending machines were deployed across the city, and the scheme, like the PET project, quietly disappeared without official closure or review.

Despite its reputation as one of India’s cleanest cities, Mysuru has seen little in the way of innovative waste management initiatives in recent times. The dream of reclaiming the No.1 spot in national cleanliness rankings appears distant, with garbage heaps and discarded plastic bottles still visible across tourist spots, temples and marketplaces.

Civic-minded residents argue that if these two projects had been properly implemented, they could have significantly boosted cleanliness, improved public awareness and reduced plastic waste in sensitive heritage and tourist zones.

Instead, they lament, the initiatives have joined the list of underutilised civic infrastructure, much like city’s e-toilets, functional only in theory but rarely in practice.