Two plants, one of which will process plastic waste and the other thermocol, were inaugurated at the Dhapa waste disposal site of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) on Tuesday.
Besides the two plants, a material recovery facility, where the mixed waste will be segregated for further use in the recycling industry, was also set up.
One hundred tonnes of waste will be sent to the material recovery facility. This will include both non-biodegredable or dry waste like single use plastic, multi-layered plastic, bottles, metals, textile rags, wood and paper.
The waste will also include mixed waste where bio-degradable and non-biodegradable waste are mixed and have to be segregated at the facility.
“What you see today is the product of planning of many days. We are creating wealth out of waste. I can say that 20 years from now, 40 per cent of KMC’s revenue will come from waste,” mayor Firhad Hakim, who inaugurated the three facilities, said.
Though the KMC has started waste segregation at source, it has yet to achieve success across the city.
“There is still a lot of mixed waste being generated. Those will be segregated at the recovery facility,” said a senior KMC official.
The private contractor who will segregate the waste at the recovery facility will also process 10 tonnes of plastic waste every day. The plant to process the plastic waste was also inaugurated on Tuesday.
Anirudh Poddar, managing director of Sterlite, the private contractor who will process the waste, said they will produce end products out of single use plastics and multi-layered plastics.
“We can make tables, chairs, benches, among other products, by processing the plastic waste,” he said.
The waste that come out after segregation at the recovery facility and cannot be used in the plastic processing plant will be sent to other recyclers.
The one-tonne per day thermocol processing plant was a much needed unit, said KMC sources. This is the first processing unit for thermocol set up by the KMC.
Processing waste is the only way to reduce burden on waste disposal grounds and extend their life, senior KMC officials said.
Fresh land to set up a dumping ground is almost impossible to find and there are also environmental restrictions to have them within the city limits.
Indiscriminate dumping of solid waste without segregation and processing also pollute the soil and water, including the underground water, said experts.
The National Green Tribunal (NGT) had slapped a huge fine on the Bengal government for a wide gap between the waste generated and processed in the state.
In September 2022, the NGT had asked the state government to deposit ₹3,500 crore in a ring-fenced account within two months. The order mentioned that 10,418 tonnes of solid waste were dumped into dumping grounds across the state every day without being processed.
Calcutta municipal area produces 4,500 tonne of solid waste every day.