A tap into the green scene

The tap of the future if we do not change

A 12-foot-high ‘tap' through which 'flow' plastic bottles, towers above the crush of commuters, shoppers discussing bargains and locals looking for the ‘rick' home at Bandra railway station (West). This tap, a joint initiative between the non-governmental organisation (NGO) Bhamla Foundation - working in the green space - and the Western Railway, is drawing eyeballs or in this day and age, becoming a selfie spot at the high footfalls space.

The tap installation, made of approximately 2,500 plastic bottles by the foundation's volunteers, aims to make the public aware about shunning single-use plastic. Asif Bhamla, founder of the eponymous green outfit stated, "This is a message in a bottle or bottles, literally. We want to tell the public that currently we still have water coming out of taps. In the near future, you may just have plastic streaming out, once you turn on that tap. This is not being an alarmist but a realist."

Oceans, lakes choked

Bhamla claimed single-use plastic is non-biodegradable. Bhamla said we are gill-ty (pun intended) of "choking our oceans, small water bodies with single use plastic. Even fish eat plastic now, and we eat fish, so no guesses for what we are ingesting. There have been surveys highlighting this concern," he stated. The installation is piquing interest, but there have been some problems too. Some plastic bottles are being filched, "and we have to fill in those gaps and redo the installation slightly." The art work was unveiled on World Environment Day which is June 5 and is slated to stay on for a month at least.

Action stations

Niraj Verma, division railway manager, WR Mumbai, said the collaboration is a part of the Railways going full green steam ahead on several fronts. On a macro level Verma explained, "The Railways has been at the forefront of so many programmes. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has stated that by 2030, the Indian Railways will be carbon neutral. That is simply huge when seen in the context that we are moving a nation as big as Australia every single day."

The manager said, training his lens on maximum city and its lifeline which are the trains, "Between Churchgate and Virar, we have approximately 28 railway stations. We have 55 bottle crushing plants enroute. The plastic is crushed and recycled by designated agencies." Verma said the Railways also has a programme on sorting waste on premises and platforms into biodegradable and non-biodegradable. Coming to this specific installation, Verma claimed the tie-up was with a credible, highly visible foundation.

"Though this tap may seem micro when seen against our national eco awareness initiatives, street art is a marquee project because of its high accessibility, eye-catching features and visibility. We also decided that it was time to tweak the makeover tag, to not just an accent on the past but looking at the future too. We have finished a massive heritage restoration of Bandra station at the cost of Rs 13.6 crore. Conservation and preservation includes a cleaner, greener earth which is part of the ‘heritage' we leave for future generations," he signed off putting one more ‘R' into the Reduce, Recycle, Reuse (RRR) philosophy, which is Railways.

2,500
Approximate No. of plastic bottles used in the installation