The Kozhikode Corporation has served closure notice on six scrap collection centres in the city following a fire in a scrap collection unit at Kundayithode in the city on Tuesday.
The centres have been asked to remove the plastic dumped there and vacate the premises at the earliest.
Corporation Secretary Binu Francis said that none of the units had the licence to operate and that they were all functioning under dangerous conditions. They had scrap heaped in unmanageable proportions, he added.
The six centres were involved in collecting unsegregated scrap from agencies that bought it from houses and establishments across the district. They would either export it to other States or dump it at unsuspecting places, said Mr. Francis.
The Corporation’s material collection facilities at West Hill and Njeliyanparamba too are in a precarious situation, with plastic waste heaped up during the lockdown reaching unmanageable levels.
“We had controlled the use of plastic in the city to a great extent from January to March 2020, after the State-level ban on single-use plastic. Our plastic waste collection per day had reduced to 10% by the end of February. But of late, it has increased to 40%,” said Mr. Francis. He cited the increase in door delivery of food by restaurants as a major reason for the increasing use of plastic. “Recently, we found that more than one lakh disposable cups were used in the city per day,” he said. The inefficiency of the Haritha Karma Sena in several wards had resulted in people handing over plastic waste to other agencies.
The Corporation Secretary said efforts were being taken to control the situation. “We need some time for enforcement of law, as our health wing is still busy handling COVID-19,” he added.