TIRUCHY: Work on the Rs 35-crore Material Recovery Facility Centre at Ariyamangalam is on track and will be set up this year itself, said Tiruchy corporation officials. With its establishment, the city will have a 100% streamlined and eco-friendly waste disposal system, they added.
Providing information on the current status of the project, for which fund allocation was made in the 2024-25 corporation budget, a senior official said, "Our plan was to establish the facility by 2025, and things are going as per plan. The corporation will be able to establish the MRF centre this year itself. The facility will use machines and workers to segregate non-recyclable waste, and it will be sent to the respective recyclers." Elaborating on the facility, a senior health official said,
"Currently, we segregate waste into three categories. One is degradable waste; this will be used for generating compost. The second is recyclable waste. This will include plastic, paper, clothes, etc. It will be sold off through auction. Third is the waste we send to cement factories.
This includes plastic bottles collected from storm water drains, thermocol waste and damaged toys. The recyclers turning up for auction are not willing to take it. Thus we don't have an option but to send them off to be burnt in a cement factory furnace.
The establishment of the MRF will ensure the segregation and cleaning of such waste using machines and workers. This will ensure recyclers for the materials."
Meanwhile, a senior corporation engineer said, “Currently, all the recyclable materials are sold together. Thus, when plastic materials of high and low grades are sold together, it is beneficial for recyclers and a loss for the corporation. Once we establish the MRF, it will ensure the segregation of various waste and streamline the disposal system. In less than five years, we will get back our Rs 35 crore investment in the MRF. We would also make our waste disposal and recycling 100% eco-friendly."