Sell plastic waste to Corporation at Rs 20 a kg

By G Saravanan
Published in The New Indian Express, Chennai on Feb 2, 2012:
Source:http://expressbuzz.com/cities/chennai/Sell-plastic-waste-to-Corporation-at-Rs-20-a-kg/359229.html


CHENNAI: The trash in your kitchen has now acquired value. To encash it, all you need to do is segregate the plastic waste at home and sell it to the Chennai Corporation for as much as Rs 20 a kg. They want it for relaying the battered roads in the city.



According to Ripon Building sources, the Corporation has already initiated the process to fix norms to procure plastic of low microns from the public for use with bitumen while relaying roads. That will kill two birds with one stone: your neighbourhood will be free of non-biodegradable waste and the roads will be able to withstand the wear and tear. It will also put some money in your pocket.
To complete road-relaying, the civic body estimated that it would need 800 tonnes of waste plastic and launched a special drive last month to collect it at its 200 ward offices. Yet, it has been able to collect only 110 tonnes so far.
“We have about 10,000... staff and if they collect one kilo of such plastic, the civic body would be able to get 10 tonnes of plastic waste everyday,” said a senior Ripon Building official.

To create awareness about the drive, the civic body has planned to rope in school children and residents’ welfare associations. As CM J Jayalalithaa is keen on improving the quality of the city roads, Commissioner PWC Davidar had issued an instruction not to relay roads without the plastic mix.