VELLORE: In a bid to enhance plastic waste management, Vellore corporation plans to construct 14 more Resource Recovery Centres (RRCs) across all the 60 wards of the district. This is being done considering the projected population of the corporation at nearly 6,40,000 by 2025, up from the current population of 6 lakh. Besides, the civic body expects a few villages would be added to the corporation limits which may take the population to 8 lakh.The civic body already has one RRC at Viruthampattu (Zone 1). The machine there is capable of baling 25 metric tonnes (mt) of plastic waste in a day.
Another RRC with a capacity of baling 10 mt of plastic is under construction at Ammanankottai (Zone 3). Now, officials say that tenders have been sanctioned for constructing 14 more RRCs, all with a handling capacity of 10 mt. Corporation Commissioner P Janaki Raveendran said, “The cost of one RRC is Rs 42.50 lakh. We have received tenders for 12 now, so the total cost would be 5.10 crore as of now.
”The district generates 241 mt of solid waste everyday, out of which 128 mt is bio-degradable waste (vegetable, fruit peels) and 113 mt is non-biodegradable (PET bottles, single use plastics, domestic hazardous waste, sanitary waste, clothes). Plastic waste including single use plastics, oil packets, chips packets, milk packets, covers from textile shops which constitute around 24.1 mt is sent for baling at the RRC.
“Once all 14 RRCs are functional, plastic waste collected in a ward can be handled locally in the nearest RRC and not be carried all the way to Viruthampattu. This would also make the baling process faster and would prevent plastic waste from piling up at the micro-composting centres. People would be asked to hand over plastic waste to sanitary workers once in a week either on Wednesday or Thursday,” said Dr S R Ganesh, city health officer, Vellore.
After baling, the plastic waste is given to cement factories, who use them as fuel. To better the process, the civic body uses its own lorries to transport it to the factories. “Earlier, lorries were taken in contract which delayed the process,” he added.The corporation is also in talks with a private vendor to recycle e-waste.
“The vendor is approved by TNPCB. In a few weeks, we will sign an MoU and then that waste can also be handled safely, “ Dr Ganesh said.The bio-degradable waste, meanwhile, is composted at 50 micro-composting centres present across the district and the manure generated is distributed to farmers at free of cost.