The South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) on Monday declared Tagore Garden’s fruit and vegetable market “plastic-free”.
Chairman of the Standing Committee, Bhupendra Gupta, said that this was achieved through effective mass awareness programmes and with the support of market association and the shopkeepers. In a statement, the SDMC said that it will also identify 20 other markets — five in each of its four zones — to be declared as plastic-free by October 2.
In an effort to reduce dependence on polythene bags, initially awareness campaigns on the ill effects of plastic use were carried out involving customers and shopkeepers, said Rajiv Jain, senior official of the environment department. The reduced expense on purchase of plastic bags by vendors were also highlighted. The SDMC also entered a tie-up with an NGO to provide cloth bags, which were distributed to shopkeepers to give to customers who did not get their own bags, the official said.
Similar initiatives will also be taken at other markets, said Mr. Gupta. “Our first aim was to convince small shopkeepers to be the part of single-use plastic ban campaign,” he said, adding that it was a commonly held belief that it was difficult to make small fruits and vegetable vendors quit polythene bags.
The three municipal corporations of Delhi have been carrying out intensive drives to cease the use of single-use plastic following the Prime Minister’s pledge against it on Independence Day.