Small town Tadipatri’s big achievement: becomes plastic-free

With 50MT/day of waste, the civic body manages to dispose it in a clean, green way that generates some energy too

July 05, 2019 01:02 am | Updated 01:02 am IST

Segregated Wet and Dry garbage being collected in Tadipatri municipal limits.

Segregated Wet and Dry garbage being collected in Tadipatri municipal limits.

A strong enivornmental consciousness, political will, and active public participation has turned Tadipatri, a small town in Anantapur district, into one of the very few towns/cities that can truly claim to be ‘plastic-free’.

Sorry, no plastic please!

When you buy something loose in the town, you are not offered a plastic bag and even the plastic packing material of 50 microns and above that comes from outside the town is also scientifically disposed, making it one of those neighbours’ envy and owners’ pride’ places.

A movement that began way back in 2006, has today fructified into an idealistic practice worth emulating by other civic bodies as far as implementing the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016 are concerned. No wonder that the Grade-1 Municipality stood seventh among all local bodies and first in its category in Swachh Survekshan 2019 in Andhra Pradesh.

A clear segregation policy

It starts with segregation of plastic and dry waste from wet and biodegradable waste at the domestic level religiously in the core area of Tadipatri Municipality generating 50 metric tonnes (MT) of solid waste everyday. “Two coloured bins at home, a partitioned vehicle to carry both dry and wet waste from the citizens’ doorsteps ensures segregation a less laborious process, and the dry waste goes to an energy plant,” Municipal Commissioner Palasani Narasimha Prasad Reddy told The Hindu .

Out of the 50 MT of solid waste generated daily, 20 MT is plastic and dry waste, which is consumed by UltraTech Cement factory for energy production. It was also looking for some more bulk buyers of the dry waste. Some of the plastic waste (>50 microns) that comes from outside town is shredded for recycling.

Business out of garbage

The wet waste dumping ground is one of the best managed and has its own Compost Yard. The local body is looking for a business model where entrepreneurs can buy fertile compost to encourage more people to run compost yards on commercial lines. Meanwhile, the Municipality is readying a 20-acre dumping yard close to the town for scientific disposal.

When it comes to overall sanitation it excels with 90% of the town covered by Underground Drainage system supported by two Sewage Treatment Plants of 11 mld capacity (3.5 mld+ 8 mld).

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