One more cement firm to handle Trichy’s plastic waste

Trichy: Trichy corporation has roped in one more cement manufacturing unit and vendors to dispose of single-use plastic products generated in the city. In the past nine months, the city has transported around 1,500 tonne of plastic waste to a cement production unit in Ariyalur as refuse-derived fuel (RDF). The process has helped the local body prevent accumulation of legacy waste in the city's dump yard at Ariyamangalam and subsequent fire accident threats.
Officials said Trichy corporation has finalized a deal with a private cement plant on the outskirts of Trichy city to send about 300 tonne of single-use plastic waste as RDF, which will be used as fuel to power furnaces in cement production. At present, non-recyclable and non-saleable plastic waste is being sent only to a cement plant in Ariyalur. Trichy city on an average generates around 450tonne of waste a day, of which about 25 tonne accounts for single-use plastic, mostly used in packaging and as covers for food products.
"Storing or dumping of waste in micro compost centres (MCCs) and dump yards causes fire threat, especially in summer. Vendors have been approached to take up such single-use plastic waste. A private cement plant near the city has expressed interest in handling the waste," said Kishore Mohan, operations head, S R Vedhaah, an agency entrusted with managing the city's solid waste.
Presently, the city sends only 8-9 tonne of waste a day to the cement plant. More private cement units and recycling vendors have been approached to handle the plastic waste so that Ariyamangalam dump yard will not be utilised to dump waste. The local body has developed five loading points at Manalvarithurai, Panjapur, Konakkarai, Ambedkar Nagar, and Ariyamangalam to dispatch plastic waste to cement plants. All 37 MCCs will collect and segregate the waste and send non-recyclable and non-saleable plastic waste to the loading points.