PATNA: A waste processing unit for getting rid of tonnes of plastic products generated from houses will soon be set up by the Central Institute of Petrochemicals Engineering and Technology (CIPET) in the state capital, funds for which will be given by the Centre.
Three other cities selected for the project under the 15th Finance Commission include Ahmedabad, Bengaluru and Varanasi.
The Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC) has decided to give a 5-acre land at the landfill site in Ramachak Bairiya village on the Patna-Gaya Road for developing the plastic waste processing unit. The empowered committee members of the civic body had given their nod to the site recently and a team of CIPET officials visited the area about a week ago.
While the PMC will bear the cost of construction of the unit, the CIPET will provide the required machinery and other equipment for recycling and disposing of plastic waste.
City manager of the PMC, Arvind Kumar, told this newspaper that the civic body would select a private firm for developing the infrastructure of the waste processing unit on the earmarked land.
“The CIPET will operate the unit for the next seven months once it is ready and impart training to the sanitary inspectors and workers so that they can use it later,” Arvind added.
According to sources, plastic waste will be collected, sorted, shredded, washed, melted, and pelletized to get granules. Separate machines will be installed for crushing plastic products and processing them. “The processing unit will meet the huge demand of granules that are used in constructing roads or making furniture in the state,” said Arvind.