VIJAYAWADA: In an effort to reduce the plastic menace in city, the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC), following the footsteps of Indore Municipal Corporation (IMC), has decided to establish a first-of-its-kind plant in State at Ajith Singh Nagar to manufacture bricks out of plastic waste.
According to VMC officials, the city generates 550 metric tonnes of solid waste per day. Out of the total, 200 metric tonnes are estimated to be plastic waste. Following the ‘Plastic Waste Management Rules 2016’, the civic body has imposed a ban on procurement, storage, and sale of all kinds of plastic and non-woven polypropylene carry bags, January 1 onwards.
Though the ban temporarily forced people, particularly traders, to shift to environment-friendly bags made of cloth or other material, failure on the part of officials concerned to impose fines on traders failing to adhere to the ban led to it not being implemented properly.
During a meeting with public health department officials, Municipal Commissioner J Nivas instructed the staff to penalise the traders violating the norms. He also ordered the sanitation staff to segregate waste produced by households and commercial establishments separately.
Plastic waste should be taken out and dry and wet waste should be separated to prevent choking of side drains and water bodies, he said.
“The civic body held a meeting with traders and representatives of a Coimbatore-based company, Regeno Ventures Private Limited, to introduce water-soluble biodegradable carry bags to put an end to selling of plastic bags in the city.
However, the initiative didn’t materialise as the traders were not interested, probably because of the price of biodegradable bags,” VMC chief medical officer for health (CMOH) K Arjuna Rao said.
J Nivas said the civic authorities in Indore successfully established a plant to manufacture bricks out of plastic and construction waste. The VMC officials have been directed to replicate that plant in the city, he said. “The plant will be operational by December. The initiative will also help VMC to secure a better rank in ‘Swachh Survekshan-2019’,” he added.