Unwanted plastics are all set to generate income in the near future. This will be done by the Public Works Department (PWD) by paying a fixed amount to Clean Kerala Company, which will take the shredded plastics away for road-tarring.
The company has directed all municipalities and corporations in the state to start plastic-shredding units so as to generate enough quantity of plastic needed for road-tarring. It has held discussions with the PWD regarding the payment and only the amount needs to be finalised.
“A portion of the amount PWD pays will be utilised for the functioning of the shredding units and for transportation. The rest of the money will go to the company,” said Kabeer B Haroon, managing director of Clean Kerala Company.
The Public Works Department has already started tarring roads using shredded plastics at Thrikkakkara and has carried out a trial in all 14 districts by tarring one stretch in each district. In Thiruvananthapuram, tarring was done on S S Kovil Road, Thampanoor.
The plastic collection is planned to be executed through Kudumbashree workers by making door-to-door visits. This step is to be monitored by the City Corporation, which will hold discussions with Kudumbashree Mission, Suchitwa Mission, residents’ associations and scrap dealers to thrash out a plan to start collecting plastic waste generated in houses and manage the plastic-shredding process. Suchitwa Mission has already come out with a proposal to engage scrap dealers to collect plastic waste from houses.