The State Government’s move to ban manufacture, storage and use of plastic products from January 1, 2019 is expected to prove beneficial for the civic body that has been struggling hard to improve its waste management programme.
For the Corporation the ban is expected to help in collection, transportation and processing of solid waste, say officials in the health wing.
The civic body expects the quantity of waste generated in the city to go down. This will impact waste collection and segregation by push cart workers, who will easily go around doing their job than they do now.
The waste they pass on to the Corporation’s vehicles after removing recyclable plastic, which they sell to make money, the quantity of waste transported to the Vellalore dump yard will further come down.
In other words, the Corporation will be able to use fewer vehicles to transport the waste than it does now, the officials say.
N. Ramakrishnan, a conservancy worker, says disposable plastic such as carry bag, cup, straw, sachet, etc. that they collect from houses, small and big commercial establishments and from roads is a big hindrance to waste collection because it spoils other plastic waste that they can recover for resale or other dry waste.
The disposable plastic waste is invariably wet and dirty, handling which also becomes unhygienic.
The Corporation officials say the civic body collects nearly 1,000 tonnes waste a day, of which around 10 % is plastic waste. The plastic waste, invariably of the disposable type, that reaches Vellalore after workers have removed the recyclables, is around 40 tonnes a day. Managing the 40 tonnes is a herculean task because the plastic finds its way even in the wet, organic waste that the Corporation uses for preparing compost.
The Coimbatore Integrated Waste Management Company Private Limited, which handles 450 of the 900 tonnes waste generated a day for the Corporation, says it has engaged more than 10 workers to remove the plastic waste that finds its way to its processing plant.
The workers remove the plastic waste at four stages – right after the Corporation hands over the waste, when it passes through the conveyor belt, at the second, tertiary and quaternary stages. But even thereafter there is plastic waste. It uses a part of the waste in producing refuse derived fuel and dumps the rest.
As and when the Government enforces the ban and Corporation effectively implements it, it will help improve processing the other waste, the company adds.
The Corporation officials say in the run up to the ban, the Corporation will do well to engage the manufacturers, stockists and sellers to ensure that the disposable plastic on hand is not dumped in to the market.