Fresh rules in the dustbin, plastic chokes city’s drains
CLOGGED 22.1% of silt in drains comprised gutkha, pan masala packets that cling to bell mouths
NEW DELHI : Two years after the new Plastic Waste Management Rules came into effect, proposing to fix extended producers’ responsibility (EPR) to deal with packaging waste, such wrappers continue to choke Delhi’s drains and contaminate water and soil.
A survey by urban planners and researchers from IIT-KHARagpur on Delhi’s overflowing drains showed the failure of agencies to implement the rule that might help tackle packaging waste. The survey found 22.1% of the silt in Delhi drains comprised only gutkha and pan masala packets that cling to bell mouths, blocking the flow of rain water.
This multi-layered packaging constitutes not just plastic but also metal fibres that make it nonrecyclable. When these are stuck at bell mouths of drains and in stormwater drains, the flow of rain water is blocked. It, as a result, causes waterlogging.
The Plastic Waste Management Rules, notified by the union ministry in March 2016, had introduced several new features such as the EPR to pin responsibility on producers and generators in the plastic waste management system. It also brought about a collect-back system to deal with such waste.
Despite a solution under the rule, municipal and road-owning agencies have been fighting the problem of plastic waste blocking the city’s drains for years now.
Officials said in monsoon preparedness meetings conducted by the agencies this year, the issue of plastic bags and wrappers restricting the flow of water had been highlighted.
The Public Works Department (PWD) has prepared a report on mechanised sweeping solutions for cleaning storm drains where Gutkha and pan masala wrappers Plastic bags and film large quantities of waste is dumped. “Mechanised sweeping was suggested as an option to tackle such waste. No matter how much the drains are cleared before monsoon, we have to deal with flooded roads. In many cases, plastic bags float with water and get clogged in the bell mouths, reducing the draining capacity,” said a PWD official.
The official said the depart- Paper and other soluble waste ment had proposed heavy fine for dumping municipal solid waste and construction debris directly into drains.
Environment experts said gutkha, pan masala, milk and snack wrappers comprise 40% of Delhi’s plastic waste. Experts say had the rule been enforced, it would have brought a sea change in how plastic waste is managed. The uncollected waste majorly comprises such packs because they cannot be recycled like regular plastic and remain strewn on the sides of the road because of its zero value.
“When you throw a bottle of packaged water or soft drink, a waste picker will pick it up because it can be recycled. Such wrappers will not fetch them anything,” said Swati Singh Sambyal, a specialist in municipal waste management at Centre for Packaging wrapper comprises plastic and metal fibres that cannot be recycled.
The thickness blocks water flow into the drainage pipes Lack of waste segregation makes fixing extended producer responsibility (EPR) difficult
Multi-layered packaging has zero value in the informal recycling sector Science and Environment (CSE).
Sambyal said packaging waste is only a part of the primary problem of improper waste management. She said the basics of waste segregation and management needs to be put in place for such systems to work. “We still haven’t started segregating our waste. If we want to even fix EPR it will fail because of contaminated plastic,” she said.