Port Blair, April 5: Port Blair Municipal Council has bagged a coveted position in a prestigious project for prevention of plastic entering marine ecosystem, to be implemented in association with Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH under a Technical Cooperation project.
Importance of the sustainable plastic waste management in urban centres cannot be under stated. Marine litter in particular, threatens ecosystems and adversely affects fisheries and tourism industries. It also affects public health with increased risk of plastic entering food webs.
Following a joint declaration of MoHUA, GoI and German Federal Ministry of Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear safety, a project namely - Cities Combatting Plastic Entering the Marine Environment (CCP-ME) will be implemented in Port Blair besides the cities of Kanpur and Kochi. The broad objective is to achieve enhanced practices (including digital tools) to prevent plastic entering the marine environment.
Waste collection, segregation and marketing of plastic waste will be strengthened in the city in association with Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH under this Technical Cooperation project. It will further assist in the prevention of plastic disposal to the water bodies and improve handling of Port and marine waste.
All this needs to be combined with the new tracking, data management and reporting systems, civil society involvement and increased cooperation with the recycling industry. This is in line with the amendment in the Municipal Solid Waste Management Rules 2016 and the Plastic Waste management Rules 2016 that stipulate the segregation of waste at source in order to enable its recovery, reuse and recycling. Institutional generators, market associations, event organisers, hotels and restaurants have been made directly responsible for segregation and sorting of waste and its handling in partnership with the ULBs.
The project implementation period is upto December 2023. The project output indicators include improved procedures for collection, segregation and recycling of plastic, capacity enhancement etc. It is hoped that the successful implementation of the project will assist Port Blair in her stride to be a smart city.