Parmita Uniyal
New Delhi, September 15
As India gears up to get rid of single-use plastic such as water bottles, corporates, urban-local bodies and ordinary citizens have come forward to fight the menace.
Leading e-commerce marketplace Flipkart has decided to eliminate single use plastic in packaging and move towards a 100% recycled plastic consumption in its own supply chain by March 2021. As part of its long-term sustainability initiatives, the retail major is working on various measures including the introduction of eco-friendly paper shreds and replacing poly pouches with recycled paper bags.
“The efforts for the reduction in single-use plastic started about a year back and have resulted in a 25% reduction already in the packaging processes. Towards its commitment to 100% plastic-free operations, the company has introduced eco-friendly alternatives and recycled plastics,” it said recently.
After completing the 16th edition of Royal Enfield Himalayan Odyssey aimed at creating awareness against plastics, the motorcycle maker hosted a Beach Cleaning drive at Mahalaxmi beach with more than 150 riders on Sunday.
The government is set to announce a complete ban on a number of single-use plastic items on October 2, the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. In order to achieve its target, the central government is expected to propose to all 4,378 urban local bodies to collect and segregate recyclable and non-recyclable plastic wastes.
The municipal bodies are already in action following a nudge from the government.
New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) last week organized Plogging Drives at various locations for generating greater awareness to minimize the use of single use plastic. Wall Paintings and Nukkar Nataks were also organized in the national Capital carrying the message of harmful effects of single use plastics on the environment.
The national transporter Indian Railways will undertake another major drive of “Shramdan” with main focus on collection of plastic waste. As per the plan, it will go for enhanced cleanliness through collection of plastic waste from all railway premises. It will also distribute cloth bags and direct shunning of single use plastic from October 2. Single use plastic means usage of any plastic below 50 microns.
“The Prime Minister had specially desired that Indian Railways should lead this initiative,” the Railways said in an official statement on Sunday.
As per an UN agency report, more than eight million tons of plastic ends up in the ocean annually. This is equal to dumping one garbage truck of plastic per minute, at a cost of around $8 billion, in damage to marine ecosystems. It is estimated that by 2050, there will be more plastic than fish in the sea.
In addition to single-use plastic, there is another form of plastic called multi-layered plastics (MLP) which is posing great danger. The MLP is most commonly found in shampoo sachets, food packets and tetra packs etc. which remains uncollected and ends up in landfills, choking drains and eaten by stray animals.
The barriers to MLP collection and segregation, gave an impetus to the Indian Beauty & Hygiene Association (IBHA), the apex body representing leading personal care companies in India to work on this issue.
“IBHA’s sustainable approach towards multilayered plastics has resulted in collection and recycling of 55 tonnes of multi-layered plastics in 5 cities till now (Piloted in Mumbai and was extended to other cities Chennai, Bangalore, Kolkata and Delhi),” the industry body said.