On road to plastic revolution

The Corporation will soon initiate steps to renew the contract between the Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India (CREDAI) for collecting plastic waste from nearly 300 flats in the city.

However, the plastic waste collection has not been affected with the agency carrying out the work at its own expense.

The existing shredding unit at Ravipuram, where CREDAI stores the plastic granules made out of recycled plastic, has exceeded its storage capacity, and the agency has already informed the civic body about its difficulties to carry out the waste collection. It was in 2009 that the Corporation entered into an agreement with CREDAI on collecting plastic waste from flats in the city. As per the pact, the agency will recycle the plastic into granules that can be used for tarring the roads.

The road at Manappattiparambu was tarred using the plastic pellets. The plastic pellet save up to 10 per cent of bitumen used for tarring. The cost of one tonne of bitumen is `45,000 and the usage of plastic granules will help save `4,50,000 for every 100 tonne of  bitumen used.

“But the Public Works Department (PWD) is yet to give its nod for the Corporation to use plastic granules for road tarring. As a result 38 tonnes of plastic granules got stacked up at the shredding unit at Ravipuram. Along with that, the Corporation is yet to pay the operational charges for the last one-and-a-half year. This will come up to an amount of  `4 lakh. We have already informed the Mayor about the need of renewing the contract. Otherwise, we will not be able to carry the project forward,” said an official with CREDAI.

Meanwhile, Mayor Tony Chammany said the Corporation would soon take steps to renew  the contract with CREDAI. “We are not against using plastic granules for laying roads. But we need a government order to use plastic granules, which is not listed in the PWD manual,” the Mayor said.

Plastic Fuel

Chammany said the Corporation would also set up a new plant at Brahmapuram to convert plastic waste into fuel. As per the plan, an experienced agency will set up the company and will pay the royalty to the civic body for the fuel they produce.