Deccan Chronicle 27.08.2009
City wages war against plastic
Chennai, Aug. 26: City residents can look forward to brighter days with the local government authorities declaring war on plastic waste, a major environment problem that has been haunting Chennai.
“We are on the lookout for a simple and eco-friendly technology to either recycle or dispose of plastic garbage generated in the city,” said Mr Rajesh Lakhoni, corporation commissioner, Chennai.
Speaking to this newspaper on the sidelines of a national workshop on co-processing of hazardous waste in cement kilns organised by Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board here on Wednesday, Mr Lakhoni said the ban on plastic at Marina beach
has been found to be effective. “Marina is slowly em-erging as one of the beautiful sites in the country. But we cannot ban plastics elsewhere in the city since it is an essential ingredient in our daily life,” he said.
“We have to find effective steps to dispose or recycle 200 tonnes of plastic garbage generated daily in the city. We are looking for partners and technical know-how for disposing of plastic waste,” he said. Plastic constitutes almost 10 per cent of the 3,700 tonnes of waste generated in Chennai everyday.
Mr Ulhas Parlikar, director, ACC, said his company has successfully developed an eco-friendly technology for the safe disposal of plastic waste. “The company’s Kymore plant in Madhya Pradesh has a technology for processing various kinds of plastic waste. No abnormal variations were noticed during or after the processing of plastics,” Mr Parlikar told delegates.
Earlier, environment minister T.P.M. Mohideen Khan, who inaugurated the workshop, said 2,655 factories let out hazardous waste of about 3.14 lakh tonnes per year.
