Indian Coast Guard Bisleri Pact Targets Plastic Waste On Kerala Coast

Indian Coast Guard Bisleri cooperation on marine plastic pollution took formal shape in Kochi on July 7, when Bisleri International signed a Letter of Association with the Indian Coast Guard's Kerala and Mahe command through its sustainability initiative Bottles for Change. The agreement covers collection, segregation and recycling of plastic waste along the coastline and falls under the Coast Guard's own Plastic Free Oceans mission, the force's ongoing effort to keep marine litter out of Indian waters.

The Signing

Dr. Angelo George, Chief Executive Officer of Bisleri International, signed for the company. Deputy Inspector General Ashish Mehrotra signed on behalf of the Indian Coast Guard. The ceremony was held in Kochi on July 7, the same day the agreement was formally announced.

Several officials from both sides attended. Bisleri was represented by K. Ganesh, Director for Sustainability and Corporate Affairs; Dhinakaran, South Region Manager for CSR; and Jofin, the company's CSR Executive for Kerala. Jabir, Chief Executive Officer of Green Worms, the waste management partner working alongside Bottles for Change on the ground, was also present.

Officials At The Table

The presence of a dedicated CSR delegation, rather than a single signatory, points to how Bisleri structures these state-level tie-ups.

South Region operations, Kerala-specific CSR staff and the sustainability leadership from the corporate office were all in the room, alongside the Green Worms chief executive. Green Worms is the on-ground waste management partner that runs collection logistics for Bottles for Change in several states, and its presence at the signing signalled that implementation work is expected to begin without a separate rollout announcement.

What The Partnership Covers

Under the Letter of Association, Bottles for Change will work with the Coast Guard's Kerala and Mahe unit to strengthen how post consumer plastic is collected, segregated and recycled in coastal districts. The stated goal extends past logistics. Awareness campaigns and efforts to shift public behaviour around plastic disposal form part of the plan, aimed at keeping waste out of coastal and marine ecosystems before it reaches the water.

Dr. George called the tie up an honour for Bisleri, saying the company remains committed through Bottles for Change to protecting coastlines and marine ecosystems, and framed it as a shared vision of responsible waste management for the country. DIG Mehrotra, for his part, welcomed the initiative as one that would widen public awareness, tighten waste management practices on the ground and help preserve coastal ecosystems for future generations, remarks that echoed the language used in the company's own statement on the signing.

Indian Coast Guard Bisleri Deal Fits A Wider Pattern

The Indian Coast Guard, raised in 1978 as an independent armed force under the Ministry of Defence, is responsible for a coastline running across nine states and four union territories, and marine environmental protection falls inside that mandate alongside search and rescue and anti-smuggling patrols. Plastic entering the water from coastal towns and ports falls under India's plastic waste management rules, and outside partnerships of this kind are one route the force has used to address the problem without adding to its own manpower load. The force's coastal brief has drawn comparisons to the CAPF's land border work, after Union Home Minister Amit Shah's recent review of Gujarat's frontier posts, and to the wider Home Ministry security push seen ahead of this year's Amarnath Yatra security build-up.

The tie up also lands days after an Eastern Fleet flotilla wrapped a port call in Singapore, part of a busier stretch for India's maritime services generally.

The Indian Coast Guard Bisleri agreement follows similar arrangements Bottles for Change has signed with other government bodies and community groups over the past few years, as the programme expands beyond its original urban recycling footprint into coastal and marine settings, an expansion the company frames as part of a broader shift from city collection drives toward ecosystem-specific waste partnerships.

Bisleri's Broader Sustainability Push

The Kerala agreement sits under Bisleri's Greener Promise, the sustainability framework the company folded its recycling, water conservation and allied programmes into as part of what it calls Sustainability 2.0.

Bisleri International has run for more than 54 years and describes itself as one of India's largest premium beverage businesses, built on packaged drinking water sold under the Bisleri name alongside the Vedica Himalayan Spring Water line. The company says its water goes through 114 quality checks and a 10 stage purification process before bottling. It also sells carbonated drinks under names including Pop, Rev, Limonata and Spyci Jeera, distributed through a network the company puts at over 6,000 distributors and 7,500 delivery trucks across India and neighbouring countries, alongside a direct to consumer channel called Bisleri @Doorstep.

The Kerala and Mahe Letter of Association was signed and took effect on July 7.