Mumbai International Airport is now entirely free of single use plastic . In-line with the PMO’s call for phase wise ban on single-use plastic in India, MIAL has gone a step ahead by introducing and implementing a 360-degree plastic ban as per the guidelines provided by the Government of India.
The airport has banned all single-use plastic items including disposable cutlery made up of Thermocol (polystyrene or plastic), PET/PETE bottles (less than 200 ml), plastic bags (with/without handle), disposable dish/bowl for food packaging, straws, thermocol items and bubble wraps.
The airport adopted various recycling initiatives to drastically reduce the impact of plastic waste on the environment. All the waste generated from airport operations is being collected, segregated at source, stored and disposed as per the regulatory requirements. Techniques such as waste minimization, segregation at source, improved operational efficiency, recycling and reuse are practiced by MIAL proactively. The initiatives such as PET bottle recycling machines – Reverse Vending Machine (RVM) at both terminals, Eco bins for electronic waste and an in-house Organic Waste Composting are implemented at the airport.
Adhering to the guidelines The Maharashtra Non-Biodegradable Garbage (Control) Act, 2006 provided by the Government of Maharashtra, the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International In order to address the void of eliminating the use of plastic in day-to-day operations at the airport for the passengers as well as the employees, MIAL since over a year has slowly but surely introduced and encouraged the use of various environment friendly alternatives. These replacements include the use of steel straws at the GVK lounge, cutlery and other items made up of corn starch and other biodegradable materials, cloth bags instead of plastic bags, among others. Similarly, in a conscious effort, the executives at the F&B outlets at CSMIA are proactively educating the passengers about the avoidability of paper straw usage to minimize the impact of paper usage that is indirectly affecting the environment at large.
Additionally, providing a multifaced approach to the single-use plastic ban at CSMIA, the airport has also communicated the logistical changes about the ban to all airline operators operating at CSMIA, thereby helping them modify their plastic usage starting, 2 October 2019.
