New Delhi: Plastics are all around us and they are an essential enabler of modern life but their increase in use coupled with incorrect disposal has led to the problem of plastic pollution. Currently, India is estimated to generate 26,000 tonnes of plastic every day and only 60% of the plastic is collected while the rest is often found littered on the roads, drains or dump yards contaminating our surrounding environment. This has made plastic waste a nuisance majorly due to our bad disposal and segregation practices which has made it impossible for municipalities to collect and recycle plastic waste.
Today, our markets witness such plastic littering and incorrect disposal which is not only unaesthetic but also unsanitary. To bring about a change, Smt. Akriti Sagar (IAS), District Magistrate, District Central, Delhi in collaboration with Indian Pollution Control Association (IPCA) has initiated a campaign to make Delhi’s Market, Plastic Free Zone.
This campaign was initiated on 10th August,2021, in one of Delhi’s oldest markets in Teliwara, Sadar Bazar with the support of Iron & Hardware Merchants Association and their shopkeepers. Smt. Akriti Sagar (IAS), District Magistrate officially started the campaign and hoped that the campaign would sensitize the shopkeeper and market goers regarding reducing plastic use, plastic littering and inculcating a habit of correct plastic disposal. Mr. Rajender Sharma, President, Iron & Hardware Merchants Association and General Secretary Federation of Sadar Bazar Traders Association, welcomed the initiative and encouraged his fellow shopkeepers to join the movement to become the first plastic free market in Sadar Bazar. Mr Ashish Jain. Director of IPCA, an NGO that has been providing sustainable plastic management solution for two decades, promised to support and implement more such initiatives that bring about a positive change in the community to manage plastic waste and sensitising the community for effective plastic waste recycling.
The campaign is in line with the Hon’ble Prime Minister’s pledge in UN assemble in 2018 to make India Plastic Waste free Country. Under this campaign, shopkeepers were given dustbins from North Delhi Municipal Corporation to collect their plastic waste which will then be collected for effective recycling by IPCA. The traders and shopkeepers will also be educated and made aware about impacts of plastic pollution. It is envisaged that this campaign will bring about tangible impacts and behavioural change toward plastic waste and make this market a plastic free market.