Kottayam finally seems to have found a solution to the menace of mounting plastic waste.
Aimed at the effective disposal of the generated plastic waste on a day-to-day basis, the Kottayam municipality has established a plastic-shredding unit, which is slated to become operational by the second week of February.
The ₹54 lakh project, which also comprises a plastic bailing unit, will have a capacity to process 500 kg of segregated plastic waste per day.
According to P.R. Sona, municipal chairperson, work on the project including installation of machinery were already complete and the local body is awaiting a power connection to commence the trial run.
“To enable the unit’s operation, a green army comprising about 100 members will be pressed into service, which will collect and segregate non-degradable wastes from each of the 52 wards,” she said.
Officials said the project was being run with the technical support of the Clean Kerala Company, which had been also tasked to supply the granules produced to the Public Works Department as well as the various local bodies for road construction works.
Monthly fee
The households will be charged a monthly fee of ₹60 while the commercial establishments will have to pay ₹150 for collection of plastic waste. For commercial establishments, the monthly fee shall be revised upwards subject to their levels of waste generation.
The average per capita generation of waste including plastic in Kottayam town is fixed around 300 gms per day. Similarly , the total population of the municipality is estimated to be around 1.48 lakh, in addition to the average daily visitors of about 40,000 people.
“Given these figures, we estimate the average production of plastic waste as around 40-60 tonnes a day,” said an official.
Meanwhile, the local body is also embarking on a survey in each ward to ascertain the average volume of plastic waste generated in each location.
“The survey will be carried out by the Green Army members from February onward using a questionnaire and a software developed by the Haritha Keralam Mission,” explained P.Vidhyadharan, Health Supervisor of the local body.
Till now, the municipality lacked any effective mechanism to deal with plastic waste except for the occasional raids in shops around the town and imposition of fines.
Last year, it transported truck loads of plastic waste to the dumping yards at Neendakara in Kollam and Brahmapuram in Ernakulam.