Widespread use of banned plastic witnessed at Noida flower show

Noida: A large amount of single-use plastic bags was recovered by a group of active citizens from the 34th edition of the flower show that ended on Sunday.

Almost all the vendors operating at the flower exhibition used banned plastic. The food stall was not only selling small bottles of packaged water but was seen using use-and-throw plastic cutleries and serveware.

Volunteers of TREE (Taking Responsibility for Earth and Environment), a group working to protect environment, collected (seized) over 60 kg of banned plastic polythene bags from the vendors in a period of three days. 

Shail Mathur, founder of TREE told CitySpidey that she and her team went to all the stalls asking if they had any plastic bags and confiscated the ones they found.

“Environment is our responsibility. Noida Authority should have kept a check on this. We can't blame vendors. Had the authority given them clear instructions, they couldn’t have dared to carry plastic in the premises of an event which promotes the environment,” Shail said.

“The usage of single-use plastic is banned in Uttar Pradesh from October 2, 2018 and finding the banned material at an event hosted by the authority is shameful,” she added.

Shail and her team have been working successfully to curb the use of plastic from the last five years in her residential sector and ask for the plastic bags from the violators with a smile. She said this has worked for her in years and she carried the similar activity at the flower show where violators not only hurled abuses but snatched the phone of one of her team members while she was filming.

Notably, the TREE had also written to CEO of Noida Authority Ritu Maheshwari to see that no plastic cutlery and crockery be used in the annual flower show. They had also asked the authority to make arrangement for water dispensers and reusable cups for the visitors rather than the plastic bottles.

Meanwhile, CitySpidey spoke to an official in the Noida Authority who said that action will be taken against all violators.

Stalls serving food in banned plastic plates

Confiscated plastic bags weighing over 60 kg