Plastic Waste Management at the three Railway Stations and Airport of Delhi

[Samraj Sahay]

CPCB and RITES have come out with their report on the status of Plastic Waste management at the three railway stations (New Delhi, Old Delhi and Hazrat Nizammuddin) and IGI Airport of Delhi. No doubt the three railway station are plagued with the problem of plastic waste and is quite visible once a person visits these stations. Source being the plastics used extensively by caterers.

3 stations and the airport generates about 11000 kg of plastic waste and only about 47% of it are recycled and reused while the remaining are never picked or finds its ways to the landfill sites. Airport have outsourced its waste management facilities with a well organized system for waste disposal, How ever railways are the major contributor of plastic waste. The 3 railway stations at Delhi does not have any organized system for segragation and disposal and the entire process is handled by already overburdened Public Health Department of the railways.

The reports talks about a number of technical measures for the proper and environment friendly disposal of plastic waste. However the major problem lies with the segregation and collection of plastic waste which if taken care of can reduce the intensity of the problem to great extent.

Railways can lead from the front and set an example for other organizations dealing with the problem of waste (hazardous) management. They should make collection and recycling of the plastic mandotary for the caterers (Caterers can simply outsource this process: this can also bring the informal services of the ragpickers to the main stream) by including it in the terms and conditions for getting the contract as a part of Extended Producer Responsibilties (EPR). The EPR models have been very successful in different parts of the World. e.g Taiwan has such a model for PET bottles where by producers are responsible for collection and recycling of pet bottles. If organizations as big as railways start taking initiatives such models can definately change the present scene of plastic waste management.

Once the responsibility of segregation and collection of the plastic waste is taken by the producers, use of this waste as alternative energy to reduce carbon footprint, as material to be used in road construction etc. can become more achievable.

The  report is available on the CPCB website.
http://www.cpcb.nic.in/upload/NewItems/NewItem_155_FINAL_RITE_REPOR...