Coimbatore : As part its mega plastic waste recycling initiative in Tamil Nadu, Dabur India targeted to collect 3.18 lakh kg of post-consumer plastic waste from all major cities in the State during the current financial year, a top company official said on Thursday.

The company, which collected 1.1 lakh kg of such plastic last year, would engage 500 local rag pickers for this collection and processing drive, company environment, health and safety corporate Priyank Arya told reporters here.

“This is part of Dabur India commitment to collect back 100 per cent of the plastic waste generated by its packing –5.2 lakh kg – in the State by 2020-21,” he said.

The company collected 4,000 tonnes of plastic waste materials in the last 18 months from six States. These were being sent to different recyclers, waste-to-energy plants and cement kilns through registered bodies and NGOs,, Dabur India Corporate Communications head Byas Anand said.

On the initiative to reduce the consumption of the company for packaging its products, Arya said a team was working on the issue and the company would be successful in drastically reducing plastic consumption in another two to three years, he added.