THIRUVANATHAPURAM: Removing the plastic waste would now be more easy for the City Corporation with the arrival of two new vehicles exclusively for the purpose. Compactors - which can collect up to eight tonnes of plastic and churn it into a paste (not recycling) - were pressed into service by the Corporation on Monday.The vehicles - which appear like the air-tight lorries for waste collection - were flagged off by Mayor K Chandrika near the Theerthapada mandapam. The Mayor and her team, including the Health, Finance and Tax Committee Chairmen, witnessed the working of the vehicle, which was put to use in Sreekanteswaram, Fort and Chenthitta wards on the first day."Now, we collect plastic waste only on Saturdays. But after the pre-monsoon cleanup last week, more plastic waste has accumulated. With the coming of compactors, what three vehicles used to do on a single day would be done by one vehicle. It would help us collect garbage in a better way,’’ said S Pushpalatha, Health Standing Committee Chairperson.The vehicle has a leachate collection tank which is to store the leachate that drips out of the waste. The non-biodegradable waste, including the accumulated plastic, would be removed using compactors in the coming days. The compactors have been brought under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) scheme. The Corporation is right now toying with the idea of starting plastic recycling units in three areas in the city. The compactors would help to serve this purpose too.Moreover, with the ban on plastic below 40 microns in place now, the vehicles to crush plastic waste would come handy for the local body.The vehicles are also free of stench which has given a ray of hope to the Corporation. It can now ply the vehicles in daylight and transport the garbage to the waste treatment plant.
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