Plastic Waste Management : Comprehensive Expansion Plan
Recently UNDP has planned to make a massive expansion of Plastic Waste Management (PWM) in India.
- The PWM (2018-2024) program of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) aims to nearly triple its plastic waste management in 100 cities of India by the year 2024.
- UNDP has undertaken this project in partnership with Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages Pvt Ltd and Hindustan Unilever Ltd, among others. It aims to use existing systems as a basis for reducing the impact of plastic waste on the environment in India.
- It will promote the collection, segregation and recycling of all types of plastics to move towards a circular economy.
- So far 83,000 metric tonnes of plastic waste has been collected.
- The project has reached out to 5,500 Safai Saathis in an effort to institutionalize informal sector workers.
- A social security program “Utthan” was launched to help 9,000 Safai Saathis.
- However, the program has faced some disruption following the massive increase in waste, including medical plastic waste, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
- UNDP is also working with NITI Aayog. Also, it has jointly developed a handbook model for local municipalities as well as the private sector.
- The ‘Handbook’ provides a comprehensive overview of PWM by representing and discussing the components of the entire plastic waste value chain.
Source – The Hindu
