Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Coal and Mines Pralhad Joshi has said that the Union government has set the goal of tackling the plastic menace under the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan this year as part of the 150th birth anniversary celebrations of Mahatman Gandhi.
Speaking at a function to inaugurate a stationary compactor station at Indira Nagar here on Monday, he said that all urban local bodies have been asked to collect a minimum of 100 tonnes of plastic garbage and hand it over to the different government departments and others that have chalked out plans to reuse plastic or to extract fuel from used plastic.
Moreover, the Union government has made it mandatory to use fuel derived from plastic in various industries.
The industrial units too have come forward to use this fuel as it is cheaper compared with the prices of conventional fuel. The urban local bodies should tap this opportunity and come forward with proper plans, he said.
Referring to the proportionately high quantity of garbage collected at the dumping yards located on Karwar Road in Hubballi and Hosayellapur area in Dharwad, Mr. Joshi said that the piles of garbage in these locations are amplifying by the day and the residents have started protesting demanding disposing of garbage that has collected there over the last nearly 30 years.
The Hubballi Dharwad Municipal Council and the district administration in consultation with the elected members should identify an agency to take away plastic waste and also take steps to generate manure from the disposable waste, he said and directed the authorities concerned to identify the agency before November 1 and complete the statutory process within 15 days.
