Chandigarh’s horticulture, plastic waste to be processed at new integrated plant
Chandigarh MC is planning to process its horticulture waste at the proposed city-level integrated solid waste processing plant, for which a request for proposal document is being prepared
With the UT administration favouring a single, city-level plant to process different types of solid wastes – dry, wet and horticulture, the municipal corporation (MC) is rethinking its plan for a dedicated horticulture waste processing plant.
MC is now planning to process its horticulture waste at the proposed city-level integrated solid waste processing plant, for which a request for proposal (RFP) document is being prepared.
“In the RFP, under the scope of work, the responsibility for processing the horticulture waste will be with the new waste processing plant operator. So, we will not need a full-fledged horticulture waste processing plant,” said a senior MC official.
Chandigarh generates around 8 tonnes of horticultural waste per day, but it goes up to 80 tonnes per day during spring and autumn, when trees shed leaves.
According to MC’s original plan, a dedicated horticulture waste processing plant, costing around ₹3.5 crore and having a capacity to process 50 tonnes of horticulture waste per day, was planned on 1.5 acres of MC land at 3BRD on the premises of the existing sewerage treatment plant site.
But in a recent meeting about the new solid waste processing plant, the administration had expressed its reservation over setting up of separate plants for horticulture and plastic wastes. It had suggested that MC incorporate these within the purview of the new integrated plant..
One vendor will be running the integrated plant, though, it may have different units for processing different wastes, said UT adviser Dharam Pal.
For the short-term (till the integrated plant starts functioning), MC will create smaller facilities for processing the horticulture waste, said MC official. The new plant is likely to take another 18 months after tendering process to become fully operational.
Notably, a high-level MC team had recently visited different cities in Gujarat and Maharashtra to inspect facilities for horticulture and plastic waste processing.
MC to explore central rules to manage plastic waste
For plastic waste, MC will now use the Extended Producers Responsibility (EPR) Rules, recently notified by the Union government.
“The plastic waste is very well covered in the EPR. So, we are exploring those options for processing city’s plastic waste,” said the MC official.
The Union ministry of environment, forest and climate change had notified the EPR guidelines on plastic packaging under the Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016, on February 18.
The guidelines provide framework to strengthen circular economy of plastic packaging waste, promote development of new alternatives to plastics and provide further steps for moving towards sustainable plastic packaging by businesses.
Reuse of rigid plastic packaging material has been mandated in the guidelines to reduce the use of fresh plastic material for packaging.
Under these producers, importers and brand owners may operate schemes, such as deposit refund system or buy back or any other model, in order to prevent mixing of plastic packaging waste with solid waste.