27-tonne dry waste segregated at Pacchanady yard

An entrepreneur is using the potential of technology to ease the burden on landfills in Pacchanady dumping yard of Mangaluru City Corporation.

About 27 tonnes of plastic waste that reaches Pacchanady dumping yard, situated on the outskirts of Mangaluru, is segregated daily and used for various forms of recycling.

Already, 100 tonnes of bailed plastic PET bottles have been shipped to the Netherlands from Pacchanady site, said MCC Environment Engineer Madhu S Manohar to DH.

The unit is run by Nature Friendly Recycle Industries and Dry Waste Handling, owned by Imran, who had a unit at Baikampady industrial area.

Madhu said, “Already, Imran, an entrepreneur, has installed shredder machine, bailing unit and melting machines to recycle the plastic waste that reaches the dumping yard. As many as 36 workers are engaged in segregate various types of plastic that gets dumped at the site. If plastic carry bags are dirty, the dust is removed using a machine.”

All the collected PET bottles are fed into the bailing unit, that compresses the volume of the bottles. They can then be sent to recycling units.

Other plastic materials are melted to prepare pellets and then to lumps and are sent to recycling units at Gujarat, explained Madhu.

“Before the installation of the unit, the generated waste was entering the landfill site. Now, about 27 tonnes of plastic entering the landfill site has been reduced,” said MCC Commissioner Ajith Kumar Hegde Shanady.

On an average, the unit daily segregates dry wastes like 2,848 kg of PET bottles, 3,918 kg of paper/cardboard/office paper, 1,812 kg of plastic packing bag/cement bag, 2,716 kg of article plastic waste, 1,932 kg of bottles, 860 kg of coconut shells, 1,142 kg of oil packets, 865 kg of tyre and rubber items and 100 kg of metal items. The entrepreneur who runs it has invested Rs 50 lakh to instal various machines.

The project is started on a pilot basis and it has yielded good results, said Madhu.