Shivani Gadhavi
Published On: January 17, 2022 at 18:57 IST
The Environment Department of Delhi Government is done with the completion of a draft policy that is supposed to lay norms and provisions in regards with elimination of single-use plastic. The Draft Policy contains suggestions pertaining to alternatives of products like plastic cutlery, sticks etc.
The Policy named “The Plastic Waste Management Rules 2021” will prohibit the usage of single-use plastic items beginning from 2022. According to the Policy, the banning of identified plastic items will support the Self-help Groups and marginal farmers to come up with alternatives.
An Official of the Environment Department stated that “The Draft Policy will be shared with all departments this month to take their comments. After a month, it will be placed before the Chief Minister for approval and then it will be kept in public domain for suggestions.”
Chief Program Coordinator of Toxic Links named Prit Banthia Mahesh stated, “Single-use plastic items promote use and throw culture; they are used for a few minutes and few hours but unfortunately last in the environment for centuries. However, many single-use plastic items like plastic bags, straws, cutlery and earbuds are redundant and can be easily replaced with sustainable and environment friendly alternatives.”
The Policy has two phases. In the first phase, the environment department will ban plastic sticks used in balloons, flags, candies, ice-creams and thermocol. In the second phase, other plastic made items like plates, cups, glasses and cutlery and packing films used in sweet boxes etc. will be banned by July 2022. The ban on all the products will come after the Policy gets an approval for execution.