The Hindu               06.08.2013 

Kudumbasree workers caught in plastic conundrum

For Kudumbasree sanitation workers in the city, plastic
waste has always been a problem of sorts, right from whether it should
be collected along with other waste to what should be done once it is
collected.

The opening of a plastic-waste-processing
unit at West Hill by the city Corporation in March this year was
expected to put to rest these issues, but questions still remain.

The
Kudumbasree workers used to collect plastic waste till about two years
ago. They were instructed to stop it when the civic body started
thinking of waste segregation. This continued until the opening of the
plastic processing plant four months ago. But within a month, problems
began to crop up as the workers were expected to deliver ‘clean’ plastic
waste. The workers are supposed to be paid Rs.4 for every kg of plastic
waste they deliver at the plant.

During the opening of the plant, Mayor A.K. Premajam had said that only clean plastic would be recycled in the plant.

She
urged the people to adopt the practice of proper segregation of waste
in households. Kudumbasree workers were asked not to collect plastic
bags or waste soiled with remains of food or other items.

“We
had told people to give us only clean plastic waste. But this did not
have any effect, and most of the time we ended up cleaning it ourselves.
The waste is not segregated also. The segregation and the cleaning
started taking up more time than the actual waste collection. The
plastic that we get is soiled badly with food waste of many days,” says
P.T. Girija, one of the workers.

The lack of
facilities for cleaning and drying in many of the areas aggravated the
problem. With the onset of the monsoon, drying was out of the question.

“The
plant authorities refuse to accept plastic waste that is not cleaned
and dried. How are we supposed to dry it during such incessant rain?”
asks Malar, a Kudumbasree worker.

Even though the plastic collection from Kudumbasree has come down, the pile at the plant in West Hill remains big.

The
five workers at the plant say that they work non-stop to clear the
mounting waste. The amount of rejects (plastic that cannot be processed)
is high, as is evident from the huge piles gathered at the
Corporation’s plot adjacent to the plant.

“Most of
the rejects are of low-quality plastic that crumbles if processed. Also,
wet or unclean plastic cannot be processed,” says one of the workers.

When contacted by
The Hindu
, Janamma Kunjunni, chairperson of the Corporation’s standing committee
on health, blamed the Kudumbasree workers for the state of affairs at
the plant.

“There is no facility to segregate waste at the plant. Only processing is done there.

“The
Kudumbasree workers sometimes throw all the waste without segregation.
So the amount of rejects is high,” says Ms. Kunjunni.