Online food delivery services are using plastic to pack food despite the plastic ban in Bengaluru
By Rohit Chatterjee
Bengaluru, Jan. 24, 2019.
The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagar Palike (BBMP) imposed a ban on the use of plastic in 2016. The corporation mentioned that the use of plastic less than 40 microns which is not allowed. A micron or micrometre is similar to centimetre or millimetre which is the unit of thickness. But some of the major online food delivery services are still packing food in illegal plastic.
Recently, this matter came into light when a Twitter user posted a picture of the food being delivered in plastic from leading online food delivery.
Another delivery was made to Mithila Nanda, a resident of Bellandur who said, “I placed an order with one of the online food delivery services. I ordered the food for my four-year-old kid. But, I was disappointed to see the food being delivered in a plastic package. The food cannot be consumed when it is in direct contact with the plastic, as we are aware of the harmful effects.”
To understand the harmful effect of plastic on the environment as well as on the human body, the team of Softcopy newspaper spoke to Akshay Heblikar, the CEO of EcoWatch who explained the matter saying “The ban was imposed and people will follow. But, the problem is that the manufacturing of plastic has not stopped entirely. If it is available, then people will use it. Now, if these food delivery services are using it, it is a matter of concern as the food becomes toxic.”
Hebilkar further mentioned that plastic is a byproduct of petroleum. It is a polymer and it will have some petrol content in it. When a hot or warm food comes in direct contact, the benzene in the plastic starts losing its’ character. It gives out a toxic fume which is not visible to eyes. This can lead up to a number of diseases.
