india

Updated: Jan 07, 2019 23:52 IST

The Airports Authority of India (AAI), which operates over 90 airports, has declared 16 airports free from single-use plastic. It has also issued direction to the airport directors to ban plastic and asked them to implement the order as early as possible.

The AAI has engaged Quality Council of India (QCI) to assess/check the implementation of the ban of single-use plastic items at 34 airports — handling one million passengers per annum — which will be completed by January 31.

“Rampant modernisation and commercialisation are leading to exerting our planet and making it devoid of its natural resources. Being an environmentally conscious public sector enterprise, the AAI has decided to make its airports plastic free by banning the use of single-use plastic items on the premises across the country,” said an AAI spokesperson.

“Various steps, including banning of single-use plastic items like straws, plastic cutleries, plastic plates, have been undertaken to eliminate the single-use plastic items at passenger terminals and city side.”

On the basis of third-party assessment carried out by QCI; 16 airports — Indore, Bhopal, Ahmedabad, Bhubaneswar, Tirupati, Trichy, Vijayawada, Dehradun, Chandigarh, Vadodara, Madurai, Raipur, Vizag, Pune, Kolkata and Varanasi — have been declared as single-use plastic free.

“AAI is also enhancing its waste management systems and promoting the use of eco-friendly sustainable alternatives progressively like use of bio-degradable garbage bags in the garbage bins and installation of plastic bottle crushing machine at airports. AAI airports have also started various awareness campaigns for sensitising all stakeholders specially passengers towards the cause and to drive engagement and cooperation from all of them,” the spokesperson added.

Indira Gandhi International Airport has also started the process of not using plastic for grocery bags, food packaging, bottles, straws, containers, cups and cutlery. The Bengaluru International Airport has also been moving in that direction.

Single-use plastics, often also referred to as disposable plastics, are commonly used in packaging and include items intended to be used only once before they are thrown away or recycled.