BANGALORE: Next time when you see plastic material on streets, worry not that it will harm the environment. If the new proposal is implemented, a Chennai-based private firm will convert plastic waste in Bangalore to useful products. Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has taken initiative to convert waste plastic products into crude oil that can also be used as fuel for machines and vehicles. BBMP which had called for tenders to convert plastic waste in to crude oil, has zeroed in on Chennai-based private firm M K Aromatics Limited. According to Mahesh K Merchant, managing director of the company, post-consumer plastic products from Kurkure packet to Pantene shampoo sachet, broken plastic buckets to used tooth brushes, every plastic material that is used in daily lives can be converted in to crude oil. The system will treat all varieties of plastic waste and does not need the plastic to be clean or dry prior to processing.
According to Mahesh, in Bangalore, every day at least 4,000 tonnes of garbage is being collected.
“Of the total garbage generated, eight to 10 per cent is plastic waste which is around 400 tonnes. We can generate at least 4,000 litres of crude oil with this,” he said.
He claimed that the oil-generation system does not produce large amounts of secondary waste or poisonous bi-products like sulphur compounds.
Council Approval
According to a senior BBMP official, M K Aromatics Limited has presented its plan in front of Standing Committee (Health). “Once they approve, the same will be placed at the next BBMP Council for the approval. After getting nod from the Council, the company can set up the conversion plant in Bangalore,” official said.
Profit to BBMP
BBMP officials said that M K Aromatics Limited, if finalised, will set up a 10-ton plant in Mandur in a five acre land. It will be given to the company on Build, Own, Operate, Transfer (BOOT) for 30 years. The company will invest Rs 10 crore. “BBMP need not invest any amount. But it will get a royalty of 2 per cent every month,” Mahesh said..