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Solid Waste Management

Corporation begins recycling waste plastic bags discarded in city

Wednesday, 06 November 2013 05:35 administrator
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The Hindu            06.11.2013

Corporation begins recycling waste plastic bags discarded in city

Waste gains value here:Workers at the Coimbatore Corporation plastic recycling centre at Appanaickenpalayam, on Tuesday.- Photo: M.Periasamy.
Waste gains value here:Workers at the Coimbatore Corporation plastic recycling centre at Appanaickenpalayam, on Tuesday.- Photo: M.Periasamy.

Plastic bags of various microns thickness lay scattered outside a shed in Apanaickenpalayam, near Thudiyalur. A cursory look suggests that the Corporation had dumped the bags there. It is not so, as the Corporation is recycling the bags to produce plastic cakes that will be recycled to produce various plastic products.

Process

Commissioner G. Latha told journalists on Tuesday that the Corporation had begun the process of recycling plastic bags. The plastic bags collected from the 20 wards in the North Zone go the processing zone, where members of a self help group clean, dry and shred the bags.

The workers then feed the shredded plastic pieces to a machine, which using heat, compacts them into plastic cakes.

Payment

The Corporation had tasked the conservancy workers in the Zone with collecting the waste. To encourage them to collect the bags, the Corporation would pay Rs. 2 a kg. In the past few days, the workers had collected nearly 2,900 kg bags.

The Commissioner said that for every 125 kg shredded waste, the machine pushes out plastic cakes that weigh 100 kg. The Corporation sold a kg of the plastic cake at Rs. 17.50 to an Erode-based businessman who uses the same as raw material to manufacture plastic products.

For producing the cakes, the Corporation pays each of the eight members of the self help groups Rs. 150 a day. And, at the end of the day, the Corporation was left with Rs. 350 which it could use towards maintenance and power charges.

Self-help group

Ms. Latha said that the Corporation had just started the unit. At present it was keen on streamlining the process and in the days to come could look at handing over the entire unit to the self help group members.

The objective was to recycle plastics.

For managing the plastic waste in other zones the Corporation was looking at other models of waste management. For example in Ward 23 (R.S. Puram), where the Corporation had implemented the Shunya Project of ‘Zero Waste Management’ the Corporation had tied-up with ITC.

The workers there sold the plastics and other dry waste to the company for a consideration.

At the inauguration on Tuesday, Mayor S.M. Velusamy, councillors and officials were present.

Last Updated on Wednesday, 06 November 2013 06:51
 

Corporation hopes to clear Diwali waste by today

Tuesday, 05 November 2013 06:09 administrator
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The Times of India             05.11.2013

Corporation hopes to clear Diwali waste by today

TRICHY: Civic conservancy workers on Monday had their hands full as the streets in Trichy city were strewn with burnt firecrackers and torn gift wrappers. Trichy Corporation aims to clear all the piled up garbage by Tuesday.

The spurt in garbage on Diwali amounted to 30 tonnes, said city engineer Chandran S. Usually, the city generates about 430 tonnes of garbage daily. Of this about 410 tonnes are collected by 76 trucks deployed for the purpose.

To remove the additional garbage, the trucks would make additional trips to all the 65 wards, the civic engineer said. In an ordinary day, the corporation trucks make at least 12 trips to collect the garbage. Now the trips have been increased to 20. The civic conservancy workers collected up to 300 tonnes of garbage on Sunday itself, while 425 tonnes were removed on Monday, Chandran said.

The corporation officials said that the short spell of rain hampered the removal of garbage. With most of the bins overflowing, stench could be felt at several areas. Personnel of Exnora, a civic agency which is also involved in cleaning works along with the corporation workers, said the workers found it difficult to remove the garbage due to rains.

Mohan P, the youth wing president of Exnora, said a 25% rise in garbage is witnessed during Diwali every year. In 60 zones Exnora workers noticed an increase of five tonnes of garbage. Burnt firecrackers, gift wrappers and plastic from sweet boxes form a major part of the garbage, Mohan said.

Chandran explained that the additional garbage is mainly due to the large decorative material and cardboard boxes used in the packaging of firecrackers. As residents dispose the material without crushing, the space in the bins gets reduced, he noted.

The Exnora conservancy workers, however, noted that households generated less waste when compared to last year.

 

1,100 tonnes garbage collected in two days

Monday, 04 November 2013 11:06 administrator
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The Times of India             04.11.2013

1,100 tonnes garbage collected in two days

MADURAI: When the residents of the temple city completed marathon cracker bursting sessions on Saturday and Sunday nights, it was the turn of sanitation workers of the Madurai Corporation to pick their brooms and get busy.

Almost all the roads, lanes and bylanes of the city were littered with burst cracker pieces, exhausted flower pots and rockets, empty sweet boxes and glittering gift papers that were used to wrap the cracker boxes.

The city generated a whopping 1,100 tonnes of waste in the last two days and disposed in the garbage yard at Vellakkal. "On November 2, we had cleared 482 tonnes of garbage while on November 3, 537 tonnes were cleared," said a senior officer in the city corporation. The official added that the total quantity of garbage could be much more as clearing could not be carried out in some places. For some, the Diwali celebrations are not yet over and continued to burst crackers. "Even as we clear people continued to dump waste," the official said.

As many as 100 trucks and 32 hired trucks were pressed into service for the clearance work. While the trucks made 315 trips on Saturday between various places in the city and the Vellakal garbage yard, they made 373 trips on Sunday.

In many places, the garbage bins overflowed spilling waste all around while in some places public had disposed of waste in a haphazard manner all along the roads making clearance difficult for the sanitary workers. Particularly, commercial spots in the heart of the city like the four Veli streets and Vilakuthoon had generated most of the waste. Besides, the traders and vendors in these places, floating population that thronged the locality had also dumped a lot of waste.

Corporation officials said that sharp showers also made sweeping impossible after Sunday afternoon and added that they expected garbage collection to be the highest on Monday.

 
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