Page 37 - Plastics News Issue October 2025
P. 37
ENVIRONMENT NEWS
gradable items for recycling is costly and eco- dumpsters is essential, making door-to-door col-
nomically unviable. Mixing wet organic or food lection the only option, so segregated garbage
trash with domestic hazardous waste results in can be directly transported to processing facili-
toxic compost, and unsorted trash can release ties. Singh says that, if efficient, this can keep
pollutants in waste-to-energy incinerators. cities clean and deter littering.
Conversely, efficient waste segregation can cre- In Delhi, despite the plan to eliminate communi-
ate valuable resources. It also ensures that used ty dumpsters called dhalao by December 2024
products are transformed into raw materials, and replace them with compactor stations, milk
which can then be reused into the production booths, and EV charging stations, they are still
cycle, thereby reducing the load on natural re- used for dumping trash. HT reported recently
sources. that this was because of gaps in door-to-door
collection and fixed compactor transfer stations,
According to Indore Municipal Corporation, its which compress large waste volumes for trans-
bio-CNG plant generates `2.52 crore annually port, are still not adequate in number.
and fuels city buses. The two material recovery
facilities for dry waste produce `1.43 crore, and Trash that stays put
a textile waste processing plant earns `1 lakh a
month. Segregation is not widely practised across In-
dian cities, resulting in recyclables being sorted
Collection discipline from mixed waste at a later stage. Since the re-
cycling sector is mainly informal, there is limited
As many as 98% of the 96,020 municipal wards opportunity for proper cleaning, leading to most
across India that have reported data on the waste being dumped openly and contaminating
Swachh Bharat Mission dashboard practice land and water resources, explains Swati Singh
door-to-door garbage collection, and 91% have Sambyal, a waste management expert.
segregation at source.
The selling price for recyclable plastic is so low
“However, collection also has qualitative issues,” that low-value items (including single-use items,
a waste management expert pointed out. “You plastic bags and multilayered plastic such as
say it is 100%, but did that collection happen on empty sachets) are not even picked up, adds
time? If one misses the daily pickup, the garbage Bharati Chaturvedi, founder and director of Chin-
doesn’t sit in the house until the next day. It is tan Environmental Research and Action Group.
just chucked anywhere in the open.” This ex-
plains the presence of stinking garbage dumps Disposal of such discards falls under the ‘ex-
across Indian cities. tended producer’s responsibility’, which, under
the SWM rules, requires the manufacturer to
Effective collection requires “a lot of granular take the waste back, recycle it, or dispose of it.
planning and clockwork precision,” adds Singh. Sambyal says that while some initiatives, such as
Before launching the drive in Indore, all house- the India Plastics Pact (a collaborative business
holds were mapped, routes planned, and drivers initiative), strengthen the industry’s commitment
trained to follow schedules. Also, removing local towards circularity and reducing packaging
October 2025 PLASTICS NEWS 37
