As part of the city Corporation’s efforts to find a solution to the waste management problem in the city, a plastic shredder unit was inaugurated at the Palayam market here on Thursday.
Minister for Urban Affairs Manjalamkuzhi Ali inaugurated the unit and Minister for Health V.S. Sivakumar inaugurated the building complex. However, one machine failed to operate during the inaugural function.
“The machine did not work as it was overloaded with plastic even before it was operated. But we have rectified the mistakes and it will be operational from Friday,” said Palayam ward councillor Palayam Rajan. The plastic waste from two wards under the Palayam health circle would be shredded at the unit, he added.
The unit was installed at Palayam after local people objected to its installation at Manacaud market. The unit, set up at the far end of the market, has two shredder machines, each costing approximately Rs.1,30,000 and having a capacity to process 50 kg of plastics in one hour.
The corporation has plans to tie-up with the Sri Sathya Sai Orphanage Trust, a non-profit, voluntary organisation, to recycle the processed plastic waste at the trust’s new unit, which is expected to be completed in a few months.
“The recycle unit can process 10 tonnes of plastic each day and we are ready to take all the plastic waste from the district. We have also arranged to distribute the shredded plastic to similar recycling units in the private sector,” said Anand Kumar, Director of the Trust.
Speaking at the function, Mayor K. Chandrika said that the public should extend their support for the project. “We have made a decision that we would collect only clean plastic covers. So the public should co-operate with us,” she said.
