With a ban on single-use plastic coming into effect on Friday, no plastic' posters were seen outside major markets in Delhi including Sarojini Nagar, Lajpat Nagar and Palika Bazaar, and most shopkeepers urged people to use alternatives. A few shopkeepers were seen hesitantly selling items in polythene bags as ''they are still left with some stock' while traders' bodies took rounds of the Sarojini Nagar market at regular intervals to make sure the protocol is followed.
Most of the customers were seen without the white Sarojini Nagar polythene bag, but polythene bags were lying on the roads there, and roadside eateries were still serving food in plastic plates, spoons and forks.
Gopal Rai, Delhi Environment Minister, said the city government would issue warnings to units found violating the ban on 19 single-use plastic SUP items and punitive action will be taken against repeat offenders. Shops in the Sarojini Nagar market had put up laminated posters pronouncing ''Time to say no to plastic fine up to one lakh '' We have put up posters and distributed circulars. In the morning, we sent WhatsApp messages to all the shopkeepers to not use single-use plastic. Ashok Randhawa, the president of Sarojini Nagar Mini Market Traders Association, said that we are also making rounds in the markets. Randhawa said most shops are abiding by the protocols. When asked about the eateries still using plastic items, Randhawa said, "We are trying to convince them." Shopkeepers were seen refusing to provide plastic bags to customers at Palika Bazaar. 'Many customers have gone without purchasing items because they did not have carry bags,' he said. A shopkeeper said it was not good for business, but we can't do anything.
On August 12 last year, the Union Environment Ministry issued a notification prohibiting the manufacture, import, stocking, distribution, sale and use of identified SUP commodities from July 1, 2022 to polystyrene and expanded polystyrene. The shopkeepers claimed they have not been using single use plastic for long at the Lajpat Nagar market. We've been using clothes bags for a long time. Some customers prefer to carry items in a polythene bag rather than a cloth or a paper bag. A shopkeeper said that they stopped using other items like plastic glasses and straws. Ashwani Marwah, general secretary of the traders' association in Lajpat Nagar, said the shopkeepers stopped buying banned items and tried to finish the stock by June 30. Only those shops that are left with the stock might be selling it or using it. Marwah said that the majority of them stopped using SUP. The Delhi Pollution Control Committee DPCC had earlier issued strict directions to manufacturers, stockists, suppliers and distributors of SUP items to ensure zero inventory of the banned commodities, including packaging films and plastic cutlery, by June 30.