The Maharashtra State government will begin this week a series of deliberations with leading cement companies who are willing to help extract fuel from non-recyclable plastic. The factories will be allowed to procure land at cheaper rates for an investment of up to ₹100 crore for the installation of machinery. The fly ash produced could also be used in concrete to build roads and other infrastructure.
“We have invited the companies to set up plants. We expect every municipality to send at least 1,000–1,500 tonnes of waste every day to such plants to be incinerated and converted into fuel. This is only at a deliberation stage now,” a senior official from the environment department said. The decision has been taken to initiate the next phase of the State’s plastic policy, under which a ban has been imposed on multi-layered plastic while looking to completely restrict the use of mono-layered plastic in the next two years.
Officials said the cement companies may have to install furnaces and set up laboratories to study the calorific value of waste and the amount of ash produced. Once the moisture is removed from the waste, the pre-processing units could be used to shred the waste, which will be fed into the furnace at a high temperature.
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A recent Central Pollution Control Board study in 60 major cities estimated that around 25,940 tonnes/day of plastic waste is generated in India. Moreover, 60% of the total plastic waste generated is collected and recycled in some form.
Maharashtra has already taken a lead by issuing a notification on March 23, banning the manufacture, use, transport, distribution, wholesale and retail sale, storage and import of plastic bags with and without handle.
The ban also covers many kinds of disposable products, made from plastic and polystyrene, such as single-use cutlery and crockery, containers used to pack takeaway food in restaurants, straws, non-woven polypropylene bags, cups and pouches used to package liquid, plastic wrapping, and packaging of food items and grain material.
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The ban is not applicable to PET bottles.