Bhubaneswar, May 9: Management of plastic waste is set to get better with the municipal corporation deciding to set up a Rs 1.4crore shredding unit near Sainik School here.

"The Union government has come up with new plastic waste management rules that spell out the role and responsibilities of urban local bodies. It is our duty to manage plastic waste and ensure its safe disposal. The shredding unit will help achieve this goal," said mayor Ananta Narayan Jena.

The municipal corporation will implement the project with fund from the Swachh Bharat Mission cell of the state government.

While the cell with fund 35 per cent of the total project cost, the municipal corporation will take care of rest of the money.

The civic body plans to enlist help of rag pickers for segregation of plastic waste, which will be shredded at the new unit and then be mixed with bitumen to be used for road construction. The new plastic waste management rules also urge urban local bodies to use the material to construct roads.

"We are yet to use recycled plastic in road construction. However, we are in the process of formulating a plan for this. We will begin the work with a pilot project in the state capital. The plastic shredded in the new unit will be used for the purpose," said a senior official of housing and urban development department.

In March last year, the civic body had proposed to set up a dedicated plastic waste processing plant at its official dumping yard at Bhuasuni. However, the plan did not materialise because of opposition from villagers of Daruthenga, which is a village adjacent to Bhuasuni.

"Since we couldn't go ahead with our Bhuasuni plant, we have decided to have a miniature facility near Sainik School," said a civic official.

In addition, the civic body has also decided to begin the process of registering all who use plastic above 50 microns in the city. The users - commercial establishments or small-scale vendors - will be charged per volume of plastic they are using. The civic body will collect a minimum fee of Rs 4,000 from the person or establishment using plastic.

"There are some cities in the country as well as in the state, which have strictly banned plastic. But this is not possible in a city like Bhubaneswar where enforcement activities are weak. The Centre must have had this in mind while framing new rules, which will hopefully discourage the use of plastic," said Badagada resident Aditya Bhoi.