The Income Tax Department has come up with a unique idea which addresses the concerns of plastic waste and creation of green spaces in urban areas. This is the concept of making vertical gardens or green walls by using waste plastic bottles, an initiative being spearheaded by IRS officer Shri Rohit Mehra. He has executed this idea by using waste plastic bottles as containers for making vertical gardens on walls of Government buildings. It addresses the above twin issues simultaneously by recycling the waste plastic and reusing it for a positive purpose.

This has been replicated on many Government buildings including the offices and guest houses of Income Tax Department at various places in India. It not only reuses plastic but also helps in substantial reduction of surrounding pollution, apart from improving the aesthetics of the buildings. Till date, this initiative has led to reuse of over 7 lakh waste plastic bottles and planting of over 7 lakh plants. So far, 900 such vertical gardens have been created in 17 Indian States and more than 50 districts of India. This has led to reuse of 70 tons (approx) of single-use waste plastic which otherwise would have gone to landfills.

Further, the largest vertical garden in the country made with waste plastic bottles has been created at the Income Tax Office, Ludhiana. It covers an area of 10,135 square feet and has also found a place in the Limca Book of Records.

The Department has also amplified this initiative by collaborating with other organizations and institutions to create vertical gardens. Such gardens have been created at Schools, Colleges, Gurudwaras, Government buildings, IITs, Court-premises, Police stations, Prisons, Corporate Houses, Industrial-Houses, Hotels, Bridges and flyovers etc. The cities presently covered under this initiative are Amritsar, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Roorkee, Bhatinda, Sangrur, Patiala, Chandigarh, Jammu, Vadodara, Delhi, Surat and Mumbai.

Plastic waste recycling drives vertical gardens in government buildings, reusing bottles and reducing urban pollution. The Income Tax Department has implemented an operational sustainability initiative converting waste plastic bottles into vertical garden planting containers mounted on walls of government and public buildings, integrating plastic waste recycling with urban greening through replication across multiple sites and collaborative outreach to institutions and public infrastructure to reduce landfill waste and mitigate surrounding pollution.