In fact, the capital is among nine cities across India where plastic
forms more than 10% of the total waste generated. What makes it more
embarrassing for the local government is that plastic bags have been
banned in the city since 2009, and not just once but twice.

Central Pollution Control Board data shows that in cities like Shimla
and Chandigarh where plastic bags have been banned plastic waste forms
less than four percent of municipal solid waste. Other cities where
plastic forms more than 10% of the total waste include Faridabad,
Ahmedabad, Raipur, Kolkata, Surat and Port Blair.

While
accepting that very little has been done to segregate waste in Delhi,
the municipal corporations claim the percentage of plastic waste has
come down to 2-4% in the past few years.

“We don’t have to
segregate waste. Before reaching dhalao and other waste pick-up points,
the waste needs to be segregated by private concessionaires and
ragpickers. However, the percentage of plastic waste has come down to
2-4% from 7-8% till two years ago,” Mukesh Yadav, South corporation’s spokesperson, said.

However, waste segregation is in its early days. In east Delhi,
segregation is taking place in only two of the 64 wards. “At present, no
segregation is taking place but we have recently commissioned the work
to segregate the waste from two wards to Chintan, an NGO. Our
waste-to-energy plant at Ghazipur
has been operational since April 1 and we will segregate plastic there
which will then be sent to the plastic recycling industry,” S S Yadav,
commissioner, East Corporation, said.

CPCB
officials say that this is not enough. For a city where the plastic
bags have been banned since 2009, non-segregation of waste and such high
levels of plastic reaching landfill sites is shameful.

“Most
of the segregation is done by ragpickers who are an unorganized
workforce. Even recycling is done largely in the unorganized sector.
Delhi has around 4,000 manufacturing units of which only 200-300 have
licences. The rest operate in unauthorized areas and employ more than
one lakh people. The failure of the civic agencies to manage plastic
waste is evident from the massive pollution that can be seen all around
us,” a CPCB official said.