Delhi Airport: The First Single-use Plastic-free airport

The Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) has become the first airport in India to become free of single-use plastics. The airport committed itself to become single-use plastics free on the World Environment Day in 2018.

Highlights

DIAL has used eco-friendly alternatives to reduce the plastic use. The Plastic items that are exempted at the airport included sealed PET bottles, security tamper-evident bags, pre-packaged materials from manufacturers and compostable plastic bags.

This is important because it is the leading airport in the country with annual traffic of 68.5 million passengers per annum.

Significance

The step is being adopted to keep up India’s target of abolishing use of single-use plastics by 2022. This targets six main types of plastics that are plastic cups, bags, small bottles, plates, pouches and straws. The Swachh Bharat Mission is deployed in achieving the target.

Need

India produces 26,000 tonnes of plastic trash every day. Much of this trash is dumped in landfills, streets or spilled in waterways. Around 40% of the plastic used in the world is single-use plastic. Therefore, it is highly imperative to take serious actions to stop their usage.

Month: Current Affairs - February, 2020