VIJAYAWADA: The Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) began transporting dry waste from its recycling unit at Ajit Singh Nagar to the UltraTech cement factory in Jaggayyapet on Tuesday.The memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between the two bodies for a year, states that the cement factory has to accept 50 metric tonnes (MT) of dry waste everyday from the municipal corporation.
"Around 50 MT of dry waste collected by the VMC which comprises of discarded plastic, will be used for generating refuse-derived fuel (RDF) at cement kilns. It is a win-win situation for all- the VMC, pollution control board, cement factory and the denizens," said VMC Commissioner V Prasanna Venkatesh.
He added that the measure is being taken as per the instruction of the Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board (APPCB) and the corporation will segregate the waste, while the cement factory will be responsible for its transportation.APPCB chairperson BSS Prasad believes this new measure will aid in reducing dependency on coal for power generation.
“If the plastic is burnt at high temperatures of 1,400 to 1,500 degree Celsius, carbon dioxide will be generated instead of black smoke, which emanates when it is burnt at low temperatures of 80 to 100 degree Celsius. This will also aid in reducing coal usage by five to seven per cent which in turn will reduce power generation cost for the cement factory. Also, unorganised ragpickers will not have access to such waste, thereby proving to be a boon to public health,” he said.
Post the expiry of the MoU, the corporation will transport the waste to Jindal Waste Management Ltd (JWML) in Guntur. Speaking to TNIE, VMC Additional Commissioner (Projects) U Sarada Devi said, “From March, 2020, all waste generated in Krishna and Guntur districts will be transported to Jindal (JWML) and they will take care of its management. The MoU has been signed as per the directions of the State government.”
The civic chief said nearly 600 MT of waste is generated in the city everyday out of which 250 MT is converted into compost, vermicompost and the rest is recycled. However, despite efforts the corporation is successful in collecting only two MT of plastic waste per day due to the presence of unorganised waste collectors. “Ragpickers who are not affiliated to us roam the streets at night and collect the most of the recyclable waste and litter the streets. This makes our task difficult and we are left with little to send for transportation to cement kilns,” the additional commissioner said.
In order to make sure that all recyclable waste generated in the city is recycled, the VMC is conducting discussions with several groups of ragpickers. “We don’t know whether all the plastic provided by the ragpickers to the kabadiwalas is being recycled. To ensure so, we are trying to convince the ragpickers to work for us. In return, we will try to provide them with some pension or honorarium of Rs 2,000 to Rs 3,000 as against the Rs 5 or Rs 10 that they get from kabadiwalas for each kilogram of plastic,” Sarada Devi concluded.
On Tuesday, Minister for Energy, Forest and Environment, Science and Technology Balineni Srinivasa Reddy flagged off two waste transportation trucks belonging to the VMC. “Today, around 20 to 25 tonnes of plastic waste was transported to the UltraTech cement factory, which will be used for power generation there,” he added.