Pune was among the first 35 airports where a pilot campaign was launched during the first phase of the initiative, and the airports were declared plastic free in January 2019.
Lohegaon Airport has completed one year of being single-use plastic-free, as part of a campaign launched by the Airport Authority of India (AAI) in September 2018, officials said on Wednesday.
Pune was among the first 35 airports where a pilot campaign was launched during the first phase of the initiative, and the airports were declared plastic free in January 2019. One year on, the initiative has been expanded to include 85 airports across the country.
As per officials at the airport, several steps were undertaken to eliminate such plastics at passenger terminals, which included the banning of items such as straws, plastic cutlery, plastic plates and switching over to other packaging alternatives.
“AAI has also enhanced its waste management systems and is promoting the use of eco-friendly sustainable alternatives such as the use of bio-degradable garbage bags and the installation of plastic bottle crushing machines at airports,” said an AAI official.
Apart from Pune, the airports which were declared ‘single-use plastic-free’ in January 2019 included Agartala, Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Calicut, Chandigarh, Chennai, and Goa.