The Delhi government plans to tie up with various e-commerce firms and food delivery platforms including Zomato, Swiggy, Amazon and Flipkart for effective implementation of the ban on single-use plastic (SUP) items in the capital, officials said on Saturday. .
These firms have huge business in Delhi and it has grown only after the Covid pandemic, he said, stressing that it is important to bring them on board to make the campaign a success.
Officials said the government will organize a roundtable with e-commerce companies along with other stakeholders such as market associations, self-help groups and industrial associations to encourage and promote the use of alternatives to single-use plastics.
He said that legal experts, enforcement officers of MCD, DPCC will also participate in the round table meeting to be chaired by Environment Minister Gopal Rai.
Officials said the government is organizing a ‘Plastic Vikalp Mela’ at Thyagaraj Stadium, which will conclude on July 3 and will be held at the convention venue.
Interestingly, some online platforms have already introduced the concept of ‘plastic neutral delivery’.
On August 12 last year, the Union Environment Ministry had issued a notification prohibiting the manufacture, import, stocking, distribution, sale and use of identified SUP items, including polystyrene and expanded polystyrene, with effect from July 1, 2022.
Identified SUP items include earbuds, plastic sticks for balloons, flags, candy sticks, ice cream sticks, polystyrene (thermocol), plates, cups, glasses, forks, spoons, knives, straws, trays, wrapping or packaging film. , invitation cards, cigarette packets, plastic or PVC banners and stirrers of less than 100 microns.
In Delhi, the Revenue Department and Delhi Pollution Control Committee have constituted 33 and 15 teams respectively to enforce the ban.
Delhi generates 1,060 tonnes of plastic waste every day. Single-use plastic is estimated to account for 5.6 per cent (or 56 kg per metric ton) of total solid waste in the capital.