India need not import coal from other countries anymore, if it adopted Japanese hydrothermal technology that allows plastic waste to be converted into coal. Pitching this idea was Kentaro Nagasama, representing Shinko Tecnos, a waste recyling company based in Aichi, Japan, that embraces the motto of turning trash into treasure and claims it has figured out how to produce fuel from organic waste.
Speaking at a seminar organised by the Indo-Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry here on Wednesday, Mr. Nagasama was among the representatives from four companies who displayed their path-breaking environmental technologies that could help fix poor air, water and soil quality, if adopted in India.
New technology
Shinko Tecnos’ technology uses steam-generated pressure to break down organic waste and process them in an environmentally-friendly manner so that no dioxins or similarly harmful chemicals are released into the atmosphere while processing. “India has tonnes and tonnes of plastic waste, which end up in landfill sites and pollutes the environment. If the government or private companies take up the task of processing this waste using our technology it can help reduce waste load in dump sites and produce income for those processing it, thus turning it into a good business,” Mr. Nagasama suggested. Seiji Baba, Consul-General of Japan in Chennai, drew attention to the poor environmental quality in India as revealed by its ranking — 177 out of 180 countries — in the Environmental Performance Index 2018, as per a biennial report by Yale and Columbia Universities along with the World Economic Forum. “India boasts of rapid GDP growth of 7% annually, but it has also meant poor air and water quality. Japan has pioneered many technologies to overcome these developmental challenges. I hope through business cooperation between the two countries, some of these issues can be resolved,” he said.
Other firms
The other companies that demonstrated their technologies at the meet were Totetsu Mfg., which installs underground water storage and purification systems, Tottori Resource Recyling, which recycles used glass bottles to produce ‘porous alpha’ that can help regulate water levels in soil and aid yield increase in farms, and Nakayama Iron Works, a small hydro and solar power systems firm that has developed microhydro systems to help tap hydropower without having to construct large dams.
