Delhi Airport Slammed for Its Plastic Bottle ‘Graveyard’ Despite Ban

delhi airport slammed for its plastic bottle ‘graveyard’ despite ban

In 2019, the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGI) in Delhi announced its commitment to become India’s first single-use plastic-free civil aviation facility. Over four years on, the initiative still hasn’t taken off at Terminal 3 departures, where Encalm lounge has come to the spotlight for its plastic water bottles issue.

Manas Fuloria, a tech entrepreneur and co-founder of digital product engineering company Nagarro, has accused the hospitality service of being a “graveyard” of discarded plastic bottles.

“Despite Delhi Airport’s pledge to eliminate single-use plastic, the huge Encalm Lounge is each day a graveyard for thousands of bottles of plastic wrapping tiny gulps of water,” the X user wrote on his social media.

“Delhi Airport, please live up to that pledge, made with much fanfare,” read the post, which included a picture of a Dasani water bottle.

The complaint garnered attention online, with a few people suggesting a greenwashing attempt by Encalm Hospitality.

Greenwashing is when a company falsely claims to be environmentally friendly or sustainable for marketing purposes.

“These [single-use plastic bans] are for fashion, media attention and best to forget after sometime,” a comment read. “Like contestants in beauty contests have standard, scripted replies..world hunger, poverty, work for deprived, children..and after few years they get into song & dance around trees in bolly or Hollywood.”

Speaking of scripted replies, Fuloria’s tweet itself received a stock response from the business in question.

“We genuinely value your feedback and would appreciate hearing about your experience. Your insights help us improve and enhance our services,” Encalm’s X handle wrote, asking the customer to detail their complaint in email.

In February 2020, the GMR-owned Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) was certified by the Confederation of Indian Industry-ITC Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Development (CII-ITC CESD) for voluntarily implementing the single-use plastic ban.

Since then, the facility has introduced several sustainability efforts, including the use of renewable energy, carbon emissions reduction, waste segregation and other technology improvements that improve its overall efficiency.