New Delhi: India’s national carrier has announced a ban on single-use plastic items on its airlines from October 2. The announcement was made by Air India Chairman and Managing Director Ashwani Lohani in a media workshop held in New Delhi on Thursday. The ban is in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call to eliminate single-use plastics from the country by 2022.
From October 2, we are going to completely ban the use of plastics in Air India and the low-cost subsidiary Air India Express
– Ashwani Lohani, Air India Chairman and Managing Director
The ban will be imposed on products like bags, cups, and straws on all its flights, in two phases.
Also Read: Can India Eliminate Single-Use Plastics By 2022?
प्रधानमंत्री श्री नरेन्द्र मोदी @narendramodi के सिंगल यूज़ प्लास्टिक के उपयोग पर प्रतिबंद्ध के आवाहन के साथ एअर इंडिया 2nd October से अपनी विमान सेवाओ मैं प्लास्टिक के उपयोग पर प्रतिबंध लगाने का निर्णय लिया है। pic.twitter.com/9ik9soyRcy
— Air India (@airindiain) August 29, 2019
In line with PM @narendramodi's call to ban Single-Use Plastics, @airindiain is going to ban single-use plastic from Oct 2. In 1st phase, it will implement measures on all flights of Air India Express & Alliance Air. In 2nd phase, it will be implemented on all Air India flights. pic.twitter.com/fSF7pFb3E0
— Prasar Bharati News Services पी.बी.एन.एस. (@PBNS_India) August 29, 2019
Five things to know about air India’s plastic ban from October 2:
- Presently Air India provides 200 ml water bottles to passengers. These will be replaced with 1500 ml water bottles on all routes except the two routes, effective 29th August 2019. For the other two routes, the airline will be using potable water available on aircraft (253 Ltrs).
- Banana chips and sandwiches are presently packed in plastic pouches, which will be changed to Butter paper pouches. Cake slices from the Snacks Box will be replaced with muffins to avoid the present plastic wrapping.
- For special meals that are ordered and paid for by passengers in advance, Air India will use eco-friendly birchwood cutlery in place of plastic cutlery.
- Crew meal cutlery will be replaced with lightweight steel cutlery and the plastic tumblers will be replaced with paper tumblers.
- Plastic teacups will be replaced with sturdy paper cups. All concerned including Catering, In-Flight Services, and airports are being instructed by the company accordingly.
India is committed to banning single-use plastic by 2022 as per PM Modi’s commitment World Environment Day 2018 (June 5). Prime minister Modi has been reiterating this deadline and calling for concerted effort to fight plastic menace. Now the expectation is that India will officially announce a ban on single use plastic on October 2, when 150th birth anniversary of Mahtma Gandhi is celebrated. The ban is likely to cover six items of plastic bags, cups, plates, small bottles, straws and certain types of sachets.
NDTV – Dettol Banega Swachh India campaign lends support to the Government of India’s Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM). Helmed by Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan, the campaign aims to spread awareness about hygiene and sanitation, the importance of building toilets and making India open defecation free (ODF) by October 2019, a target set by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, when he launched Swachh Bharat Abhiyan in 2014. Over the years, the campaign has widened its scope to cover issues like air pollution, waste management, plastic ban, manual scavenging and menstrual hygiene. The campaign has also focused extensively on marine pollution, clean Ganga Project and rejuvenation of Yamuna, two of India’s major river bodies.
