Indira Gandhi airport to become plastic-free by 2019
The country’s busiest airport will be plastic-free by the end of 2019. Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) has 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 while Airports Authority of India (AAI) has also directed the airport directors to ensure that plastic is not used at airports anymore.
Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) has said the initiative is in line with India’s pledge to eliminate all single-use plastic in the country by 2022.
“The Delhi airport has also taken a number of steps to eliminate single-use plastic. This includes mainly creating awareness, enhancing waste management systems and promoting the use of eco-friendly sustainable alternatives progressively. By 2019, the Delhi airport will become a plastic-free airport,” a DIAL official said.
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.
DIAL plans to ensure use of smart and bio-friendly packaging for food takeaways and beverages, use of paper or environmental friendly bags for retail shopping and engage key stakeholder groups, raise awareness, enforce, monitor and adjust the chosen measure. “DIAL is an environmentally responsible organisation. Over the years, it has taken many initiatives towards environment protection and sustainable development. Our objective is to make the Delhi airport free of single-use plastic, in line with the PM’s vision. This would be another significant step towards achieving environmental sustainability at IGIA,” Videh Jaipuriar, CEO, DIAL, said.
The Bengaluru International Airport Ltd (BIAL), operators of Kempegowda International Airport, also said eliminating the use of plastic is just one among their many sustainable initiatives.
“At Bengaluru airport, all the four lounges, food outlets and a day hotel have taken stringent measures to reduce dependency on plastics. As a first step, the use of straws, coffee stirrers, plastic knifes, spoons, forks and polythene bags have been stopped. However, there are some plastic components that are still being used by our concessionaires that include bottled water, food wrappers, cheese and butter wraps and packaged snacks. These are beyond our control as these come directly from the manufacturer. Plans are afoot to further reduce the dependency on plastics,” a spokesperson for BIAL said.
An AAI official also confirmed that airports have been asked to do away with plastic.
Gaurav Dewan, COO and Business Head, Travel Food Services (TFS), said, “TFS is the first travel food retail companies in India to eliminate the use of plastic in their area of operations, pan India, to reduce plastic pollution. It is incorporating eco-friendly packaging that are oxy-biodegradable. We moved to Sugar Baggasse and other oxy-biodegradable material,” said
TFS is travel F&B and Retail Company, with more than 280 outlets across travel hubs including airports, railway stations and highways across 19 cities, with major concessions across key airports — Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and Bengaluru.
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