Nearly 7,000 kg single-use plastic seized in February in Delhi

New Delhi, Nov 20 (PTI) Nearly 7,000 kilogram of single-use plastic has been seized by the civic authorities in February so far in the city under a 100-day campaign, officials said on Monday.

As many as 587 penalties have been issued to the violators from February 1-20, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) said in a statement.

Among the 12 zones of the MCD, the maximum amount (1,263 kg) of single-use plastic has been seized from Shahdara South Zone. This is followed by Rohini Zone (1,003 kg), Najafgarh Zone (977 kg) and South Zone (789 kg)

Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena on January 21 had kicked off a thematic 100-day campaign to make areas under the municipal corporation free of plastic.

“The Municipal Corporation of Delhi has seized 6,939 kg of SUP plastic items and issued 587 challans from 1st February to 20th February 2023,” the statement said.

Strict action is being taken by zonal teams of the MCD to curb single-use plastic (SUP), it said.

The identified SUP items include earbuds with plastic sticks, plastic sticks for balloons, plastic flags, candy sticks, ice-cream sticks, polystyrene (thermocol) for decoration, plates, cups, glasses, forks, spoons, knives, straws, trays, wrapping or packaging films around sweets boxes, invitation cards, cigarette packets etc.

Enforcement teams have been constituted at the zonal level to eliminate stocking, sale and usage of the banned SUP items.

“The Municipal Corporation of Delhi is taking all necessary steps to ensure the enforcement of the ban. Teams at the zonal level are also spreading awareness, amongst the public/street vendors/shopkeepers/market association etc regarding the usage of jute/cloth/permitted bags in place of single-use plastic in the institutions and subzi/fruit mandis falling under jurisdiction of the concerned municipal ward assigned to them,” the statement read.

The ‘100 Days to Beat Plastic’ campaign led by the MCD will end on April 22 on International Earth Day.

Delhi generates around 11,000 tonnes of waste daily, out of which about 10 per cent is plastic waste.