Anand Mahindra Says No to Plastic Bottles in Board Rooms

Anand Mahindra heeds Twitterati’s advice, banishes plastic bottles from board rooms.

Chairman of the Mahindra Group, Anand Mahindra is Twitterverse regular. He often tweets about matters of national importance and engages in banter with fellow Twitter experts.

On 16 July Mahindra tweeted about the ‘K C M E T scholarship selections’. He shared photos of the selections along with an inspiring message for the participants. Little did he know that he would end up receiving advice instead!

The K.C.M.E.T scholarship selections are amongst the most energising engagements in my calendar. The incredible intelligence & self-belief displayed by these youngsters is staggering.All concerns about the future are shoved aside by the optimism these young people inspire pic.twitter.com/WYUd2IHwwU

— anand mahindra (@anandmahindra) July 16, 2019

Mitali, a Twitter user tweeted about the excessive use of plastic in board rooms. Here’s what she advised him:

I think the board room should have Steel Bottle instead of Plastic bottle.. Just an observation sir 😊

— Mitali (@filmibaaz) July 16, 2019

Mahindra responded to the tweet by saying that he will ‘banish’ plastic bottles from board rooms.

Yes, plastic bottles will be banished. We were all embarrassed to see them that day... https://t.co/RwZA4tWoRE

— anand mahindra (@anandmahindra) July 16, 2019

Appreciating Mahindra’s gesture, Twitter started giving him advice on what kind of bottles could actually replace plastic.

We are interested to bring the innovative solutions to replace plastic water bottle not only for drinking purpose but also for temples where thousands of liters are supplied in plastic wares under CSR support to make Greener Earth.

— SRI (@SRI_Bharata) July 17, 2019

Advise them to bring their own bottles and water containers. So can reuse and keep

— Md Kassim A Ra (@KassimARah) July 17, 2019

Consider Copper Water bottles, Copper Water Dispensers and other copper drinkware too. They will last as long as cars made by Mahindra :) Let us know if you are interested.

— Vriksha Homeware (@vrikshahomeware) July 16, 2019

...transparent glass bottles are better than steel bottles...much easy to keep clean

— Charuhas (@charuhasmujumd1) July 16, 2019

Here’s hoping that more organisations resolve the plastic problem like Mahindra promises to.

Plastic is the biggest problem the world is grappling with at the moment.

India generates 62 million tonnes of waste every year, of which less than 60 percent is collected and around 15 percent processed. With landfills ranking third with respect to greenhouse gas emissions in India, and the increasing public pressure, the government of India revised the Solid Waste Management after 16 years.

India’s use of plastic is rampant. It generates over 4,354 tonnes of non-biodegradable plastic waste every day, according to a 2016 report by the Central Pollution Control Board. A knowledge paper by FICCI (2017) adds,

“Indian plastic processing industry saw compounded annual growth rate of 10% between 2010 and 2015. Annual plastic consumption is expected to increase from 12 million tonnes to 20 million tonnes by 2020.”

If the current trend continues, our oceans can contain more plastic than it does fish by 2050.

With small but sure steps, and a constructive response to advice, like was done by Mahindra, we can hope to make a change and make the world more liveable.