COIMBATORE: In an innovative initiative, the Kittampalayam village panchayat has constructed a public bus shelter using just plastic sheets. Nearly two tonnes of plastic waste collected from households in the panchayat limits were used for the construction.
Kittampalayam is the second village panchayat in Coimbatore district to introduce public facilities made from plastic waste, following the Kaniyur village panchayat.
“The bus shelter, located at the four-corner junction of Kittampalayam, was entirely created using plastic sheets. The roof, covering walls, flooring, and seating arrangements were built using 1,908 kg of waste collected from Kittampalayam, Vadugapalayam, Kulathupalayam, and Vinoba Nagar villages. With this initiative, we wish to prove to the public that proper segregation of wastes can have multiple benefits,” said VMC Chandrasekar, president of Kittampalayam panchayat.
The panchayat administration ensures door-to-door waste collection and segregation at the material recovery facility centre, where sanitary workers separate compostable and non-compostable waste. Biodegradable waste is used for manufacturing manure, which in turn is spread on the three acres of farmland owned by the village panchayat. “The vegetables we cultivate here are sold to the residents at low prices,” said Chandrasekar.
The civic body also has plans to recycle plastic waste and has partnered with Recompose Recycling Private Ltd, a private firm with expertise in waste segregation that already operates in 12 village panchayats in the district. The firm had previously constructed a room using plastic waste at Kaniyur village panchayat office.
The firm’s director, C Prashanth, said such constructions are the best way to recycle Multi-Layer Pack (MLP) plastics, which are low-value thin plastics used for packaging food products like biscuits, chocolates, and spices. “These plastics are not preferred for recycling and end up in landfills. As we got hold of a massive volume of such plastics, we suggested using them to build the bus shelter.
The waste was processed into sheets after being crushed and compressed. Notably, we produced the output in three different forms -- roofing sheets that look like asbestos sheets, paver block stones for the floor, and plain sheets for side walls and seats,” he said.
The Kittampalayam panchayat with around 6,000 residents, daily collects around 600 kg of waste, of which at least 200 kg is plastic. Approximately 20% of this waste is segregated as MLP. “We now plan to construct more bus shelters using plastic,” Chandrasekar added.