Delhi to go single-use plastic (SUP) free soon
Welcome to a more environmentally-conscious India! Note down the date 1st July in your calendar. From this day onwards, the distribution, manufacturing, sale and use of single-use plastics (SUPs) will be permanently prohibited throughout India.
The Delhi Environment Department will take extra steps to reinforce this ban in the national capital. It will launch a campaign to specifically eliminate the use of 19 identified SUP items, including earbuds, ice cream sticks, plastic cutlery and cigarette packets. Suppliers, sellers and manufacturers of these SUPs have been warned that failure to comply with the new regulations will result in business closures. To this effect, the Union Government will conduct a three-day fair, starting from 1st July, to introduce environmentally sustainable plastic alternatives.
The Delhi Environment Department, in partnership with the Delhi Pollution Control Committee, will also conduct regular inspections to ensure state compliance. Let’s explore this further.
How will the inspections be carried out?
To start off, government officials will pin down industrial zones that continue the illegal manufacture and sale of SUP items. These zones will be shut down immediately.
Further, the Delhi Pollution Control Committee has enlisted the assistance of the Sriram Institute of Industrial Research (SIIR) to investigate littering epicentres across Delhi. This institute will also examine how much plastic waste is being unlawfully generated in the state. The governing bodies have set a timeline of 4 months within which the SIIR must submit its findings.
The SIIR’s investigation will be conducted across public spaces, such as office buildings, hospitals, markets, and schools and colleges. Additionally, the investigation will cover all the 11 districts of the National Capital Region (NCR). After collecting all the relevant data, the SIIR will determine how much plastic waste has been produced, collected and processed in each district.
Other states and their plastic-free initiatives
Like Delhi, several places in India are trying to curb plastic usage and go plastic-free. For instance, Kerala’s ‘Suchitwa Sagaram Sundara Theeram’ programme aims to make seas and seashores across the state plastic-free. This programme follows a three-step approach. The first step is to raise awareness about the harms of plastic use. The second and third steps focus on the elimination of plastics and the promotion of sustainable plastic waste management, respectively. Similarly, the Uttarakhand Government has also launched a campaign to ensure the state secretariat and assembly chambers are made plastic-free.
Digital plastic waste management
Have you heard of a company called EcoEx? Founded by Nimit Aggarwal, it’s India’s first ever plastic waste management marketplace. In a nutshell, it enables plastic recyclers and waste management agencies to get in touch with appropriate producers and brand owners. This Delhi-based start-up also provides digital solutions for the identification, channelling and disposal of harmful plastic wastes.