NEWS

A shift in focus has apparently occurred regarding waste management - from stink and dirt to harmful and perilous - courtesy the agencies making a beeline for the City Corporation to collect plastic and electronic materials tossed out after use. Suchitwa Mission has put forward a proposal to line up rag-pickers to collect plastic waste from Corporation limits who would reach door-to-door in neat uniforms.

“The usual plastic waste collection done by rag-pickers is undergoing a customisation. One of the major problems they encounter is a means to transport the collected waste, for which we are in talks with the City Corporation to provide an arrangement. Suchitwa Mission would work as a coordinator to link them with vendors in Tamil Nadu to ferry the collected materials away in bulk. They would be given uniforms and badges,” said a Suchitwa Mission official. This proposal is under the City Corporation’s consideration.

Kudumbashree Mission, which has joined hands with a Bangalore-based firm to pilot a degradable waste collection in the city, is going one more step ahead in collecting plastic and e-waste. It made a presentation before the Corporation officials regarding the method recently.

“The present clientele is just 250 houses and to get sufficient quantity, ie six tonnes of e-waste, the number must cross 5,000. Or else, we might have to find a facility to store e-waste. The collection part would be coordinated by us and the e-waste materials could be handed over to a central government-approved agency. From the houses from where we collect degradable waste, plastic is also taken now and sent for recycling,” said an official of the Bangalore-based firm.

Clean Kerala Company Limited has also prepared plans for handling plastic and e-waste in the 60 municipalities and five Corporations across the state. Based on the project, the Public Works Department has commenced road-tarring using shredded plastic in Thrikkakkara.

“Local bodies have been asked to open centres for plastic/e-waste collection. The company’s role is to find a buyer. Value-added and income generating methods are aimed at,” said Kabeer B Haroon, managing director of Clean Kerala Company Limited.