AAI airports complete one year of being single-use plastic-free

AAI airports complete one year of being single-use plastic-free

In addition to the single-use plastic ban, AAI has also enhanced its waste management systems and is promoting the use of eco-friendly sustainable alternatives progressively

New Delhi: Rampant modernisation and commercialisation are leading to exerting our planet and making its devoid of its natural resources. Being an environmentally-conscious public sector enterprise and for underlining its commitment towards its corporate social responsibility (CSR), Airports Authority of India (AAI) taking a pioneering initiative, decided to make its airports plastic-free by banning the use of single-use plastic items at its airports across the country in September 2018.

85 airports of AAI are now single-use plastic-free

Proactively acting on the Prime Minister's clarion call and as per the directions issued by the Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change to beat plastic pollution, in first phase, 35 AAI Airports namely Agartala, Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Bagdogra, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Calicut, Chandigarh, Chennai, Coimbatore, Dehradun, Goa, Guwahati, Imphal, Indore, Jaipur, Jammu, Kolkata, Lucknow, Madurai, Mangalore, Patna, Port Blair, Pune, Raipur, Ranchi, Srinagar, Tiruchirappalli, Tirupati, Trivandrum, Udaipur, Vadodara, Varanasi, Vijayawada & Visakhapatnam were declared 'Single-Use Plastic Free Airport Terminals' in January 2019.

During the year 2019, more airports joined the mission and a total of 85 AAI Airports are now plastic-free zones. Various steps were undertaken to eliminate the single-use plastic items at passenger terminals and city side of AAI Airports. These steps include banning of single-use plastic items like straws, plastic cutlery plastic plates etc. and switching over to other packaging alternatives and replacements. AAI has also enhanced its waste management systems and is promoting the use of eco-friendly sustainable alternatives progressively like the use of bio-degradable garbage bags in the garbage bins and installation of airports.

<em>Plastic bottle crushing machine at Indore Airport</em>
Plastic bottle crushing machine at Indore Airport

In ensuring the successful implementation of dissuading the usage of single-use plastic items, AAI has been carrying out internal audits of its airports along with stakeholders. AAI also engaged Quality Council of India to assess/check the implementation of the ban of single-use plastic items at its airports in November 2018.

In its quest for making environmental conservation an ingrained organisational mission, AAI has formulated an environment policy which envisages its commitment for reduction of Green House Gases (GHG) and sustainable development by implementing cost-effective carbon mitigation action to conserve environment and reduce adverse impact on society, community and ecosystem thus contributing to national sustainable development goals.

As a part of this policy, AAI is conscious and committed to sensitizing all employees and stakeholders to fulfil the environmental obligation by reducing the carbon footprint.

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