If things go as planned, the plastic-shredding units at Palayam may soon start functioning. The City Corporation will initiate discussions with two private firms at Kollam and Perumbavoor in the coming days to arrive at a decision on transporting cleaned plastic waste.
According to Mayor K Chandrika, the Corporation would enter into an agreement with one of these firms to take away the plastic waste from the city. Kudumbashree workers would be assigned the duty of collecting the plastic waste from houses.
“The plastic waste collected by Kudumbashree workers would be taken to the shredding unit at Palayam. If the firm demands shredded plastic, we will shred it at the unit; else, it would be given in the compressed form,” the Mayor said. When asked how the plastic wastes are going to be processed, she said that it was up to the firm that agrees to take them away.
The total cost of establishing the shredding units was ` 12.70 lakh. An amount of ` 2.70 lakh was spent on the two shredding machines and they were installed in a building built at a cost of ` 10 lakh. The machines have been motionless since a few days after their inauguration on July 5.
The shredding machines were inaugurated by Urban Affairs Minister Manjalamkuzhi Ali and the building was inaugurated by Health Minister V S Sivakumar.
During the inauguration, it was claimed that 50 kilograms of plastic would be shredded at the unit in an hour. It was said that the Sathya Sai Orphanage Trust would take the shredded plastic for processing. But the City Corporation has not entered into any agreement with the Trust so far.
From Tuesday onwards, the Corporation is initiating steps to segregate the plastic wastes from the city streets. Before starting picking the plastic wastes from houses, the Kudumbashree workers would receive a one-day training in October.
“A week after getting the training, the workers would start collecting waste. The guidelines for houses in this regard would be passed on through the ward councillors. It is mandatory that cleaned plastic waste alone is collected from houses. The city generates six to seven tonnes of plastic waste a day,” Chandrika added.
Get a Free Paper Bag Today
T’Puram: Don’t be surprised if you are handed over a paper carry bag while passing through Palayam on Tuesday morning. Thanal, a city-based environmental group, along with Zero Waste Centre-Kovalam, is launching ‘Bag tree’, an initiative for creating a plastic carry bag-free world.
As many as 3,000 paper carry bags will be distributed as part of ‘Bag tree’ - a campaign to be organised with the support of students and volunteers at Palayam between 10 am and 12 noon on Tuesday. September 25 is observed as Global Day of Action on Waste, called by the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA), an international network of people and organisations across the world fighting waste issues and promoting zero waste.
According to the organisers, the idea of ‘Bag tree’ is based on ‘copyleft’ and is intended for maximum participation of the public and institutions. People can join the campaign by donating old newspapers, volunteering for bag distribution and bag-making at the Zero Waste Centre or they can have their own ‘Bag tree’ events with bags produced or procured by them, a press release issued by Thanal said.
Thanal is organising the event in an attempt to bring down the use of plastics through active participation of the public. Around 370 crore plastic bags are disposed of in the state every year.
Zero Waste Centre extends its help in the production and procurement of paper bags for those who wish to organise such events. For details, contact Sabeena, Zero Waste Centre, at 0471-2487139 or Jayakumar C, Thanal, at 0471-2727150 / 9447016587.