Plastic unit goes to waste

The plastic shredding unit of the City Corporation at Connemara Market, Palayam, inaugurated with much fanfare by Urban Affairs Minister Manjalamkuzhi Ali in July, has had a premature death.

 The unit had closed down just a few days after the inauguration, according to the traders in the market. And it has remained closed since then.

 The authorities had spent ` 10 lakh on the building and Rs 2.70 lakh on the two shredding machines. On July 5, Manjalamkuzhi Ali had inaugurated the shredding machines and Health Minister V S Sivakumar, the building. Mayor K Chandrika had presided over the function.

 On Thursday, the metal door of the unit was found locked. Through the grills, big sacks - presumably containing plastic waste - could be seen stacked in a corner. Plastic bags were  dumped outside the unit.

 At the inaugural function on July 5, it was announced that plastic waste from two Corporation wards, Palayam and Nanthancode, which come under the Palayam health inspector’s office, would be collected for the shredding unit. Corporation officials had said at the time that the unit was capable of shredding up to 50 kg of plastic in an hour.

 Incidentally, on the inaugural day itself, both machines at the unit had encountered problems. But the officials had managed to put one in working order a few minutes before the inaugural function.

 According to Deputy Mayor G Happykumar, the unit was closed at present as the Corporation had encountered a problem with the processing of the shredded plastic. ‘’The Sathya Sai Orphanage Trust was supposed to collect the shredded plastic, but it could not make arrangements for that. Also, we don’t have sufficient space to keep the waste. The plant would reopen soon after making arrangements to tackle this issue,” Happykumar said.

 But the Sathya Sai Orphanage Trust authorities begged to differ. The Trust had asked the City Corporation for plastic waste and not shredded plastic, Trust executive director K N Anandakumar said.

“We need plastic for our pyrolysis unit which will be functional in a couple of months at Sai Gramam, Thonnackal. We did not agree to collect shredded plastic generated at the unit,” he said.