Taking measures to make city plastic free, lifting plastic waste from Okhla landfill site: Civic agency
The South Delhi Municipal Corporation has said it has taken a multitude of measures to make its plastic free city campaign a success. The civic agency said it has intensified its ongoing campaign to phase out Single Use Plastic bags from market places and commercial complexes in all four zones.
“Initiatives like Why Waste Wednesdays, Plastic Lao Thaila Pao, utensil stores, Ecobricks wall Project Vikalp, plastic waste processing units and installation of bottle crushing machines have been taken with the aim to discourage people against use of plastic bags,” it said.
The SDMC said it has chalked a proper plan to ensure disposal of plastic waste collected from various nooks.
With the help of UNDP, a ‘Swacchta Kendra’ has been set up and a plastic waste processing plant having 5 TPD capacity has been made operational at Dwarka, it said.
“Nearly 485 tonnes of plastic waste has been recycled to make useful products at this plant. A material Recovery Facility (MRF) with the capacity of 100 TPD has also been established at Raghubir Nagar in February this year and 23 tonnes of plastic waste has been recycled so far at this facility.
“In addition to this, 10 private agencies have been engaged to collect, lift and transport plastic waste from the Okhla landfill site. The civic body, since June 2021, has collected a whopping 4000 tonnes of plastic waste. Apart from this, the drive against Single Use Plastic ban is being strictly enforced in all the zones while plastic materials less than 75 microns has been strictly banned.
“With the active cooperation and support of the RWAs, market associations, trade unions and industrial bodies, awareness campaigns are being organised on a massive scale and the citizens are being encouraged not to use plastic bags. Citizens are also being cautioned about the hazardous effects of plastic bags through various public awareness programmes/activities,” it said.
The SDMC said in the last three years it has issued as many as 2120 challans while it has imposed fines of nearly Rs 50 lakh for using Single Use Plastic in the area coming under its jurisdiction.
The concerned departments have also confiscated about 35,000 plastic bags from shops located in various markets and commercial complexes. To stop incidents of burning of plastic materials, special teams have been constituted separately in each zone and close eye is being kept to check and stop any such practice.
Teams have also been initiating action against offenders. A ‘City Level Task Force’ has been constituted to ensure implementation of the Plastic Waste Management Rules 2016 and to phase out Single Use Plastic in a phased manner.
