THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A day of plastic collection will be held on October 2 in all corporations and municipalities in the state, Urban Affairs Minister Manjalamkuzhi Ali has said.
He was speaking at a meeting convened here on Thursday to discuss the issue of waste management.
A project to produce gas from garbage under the aegis of Clean Kerala Company Limited would become operational in six months’ time in the city.
Chief Minister Oommen Chandy will inaugurate the plastic collection programme which will be implemented by the Urban Affairs Department on October 2 here.
The first phase will involve collection of plastics at the ward-level. For the purpose, an allocation of Rs 3000 has been made for each ward. The collected plastics would be shifted to a convenient place by the municipality concerned. From there, Clean Kerala Company will collect the waste at the rate of Rs 2 per kg.
Plastic collection will simultaneously be implemented in all 60 municipalities and five corporations. Steps are underway to collect e-waste too under the leadership of Clean Kerala Company beginning with the collection of waste from government offices. In 10 days, project formulation will be done.
Measures for establishing a Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) plant with a capacity to process 25 tonnes of waste at Kudappanakkunnu here is over.
This would become functional in six months’ time. Steps are on to set up similar ones in Kochi and Kozhikode. A demand was raised in the meeting to install the plant in three more locations in the capital.
Health Minister V S Sivakumar and V Sivankutty MLA were entrusted to find a location to establish a plastic shredding unit on the PPP model at Pappanamcode here. At Kochi, a plant will become functional on October 2. Depending on space availability, plants would also be set up in other places in the state.
KPCC president V M Sudheeran called for a collective effort by political parties to chalk out ways to tackle the waste problem, which is one of the most challenging issues the state is facing.
CPM district secretary Kadakampally Surendran, DCC president Mohankumar, Mayor K Chandrika, Urban Affairs Secretary Mohammed Haneesh, Suchitwa Mission executive director K Vasuki, representatives of political parties and officials were present.