Railways Ban Plastic on Trains & Railway Stations
Following PM Modi’s advice, the Indian Railways Ministry has issued a ban on Single-Use plastic materials across it’s railways units.
In his speech to the nation on Independence Day, PM Narendra Modi had requested the citizens to minimise and eliminate single-use plastic and urged to replace them with jute and paper bags instead. He also advised the authorities across India to make arrangements for collecting plastic as the first step to saving the environment. Ministry of Railways directed all the railway units to ban single-use plastic materials with a thickness less than 50 microns.
As the name suggests, Single-use plastics, or disposable plastics, are used only once before they are disposed or recycled. Many chemicals are used to shape and harden such plastic. While decomposing, it releases toxic chemicals which then enters the land. Through the land it enters our food and water supply.
The ban will start from Gandhi Jayanti which is 2nd October of this year. The ministry has urged the railway vendors and staff to avoid the use of plastic bags. They have told the vendors to remember to “reuse, reduce and refuse” while using plastic products. They have asked people to use cheap cloth bags instead of plastic bags.
The Railway Ministry has told the Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Development Corporation (IRCTC) to start collecting plastic drinking bottles from the public. The have also ordered them to instal 1853 plastic water bottles crushing machines at 360 major stations across the nation. Crushing the bottle will make sure no one reuses the bottle. Similarly the Lok Sabha has also banned plastic items within the Parliament complex.
