Apr 26, 2021
HOLE(Y) Bin series: Part 4
MAGIC of RE-cycling
India’s first garbage café was launched by the Municipal Corporation of Ambikapur, Chhattisgarh in July 2019 to provide food to the poor and homeless in lieu of plastic waste. The plan had its merits, besides feeding the poor, Ambikapur, was selected as the second cleanest city after Indore and the plastic waste was used for construction of roads.
Plastic roads consist of 6–8 % plastic to a ratio of to 92–94 % bitumen. Every kilometer of plastic road constructed requires one tonne of plastic waste, and nine tonnes of bitumen, which means that one tonne of bitumen is saved for every kilometer, which not only brings down the cost, but also leverages benefits for plastic being waterproof; hence the durability of the road also increases.
Littered plastics are an eyesore and a common sight these days. Of 8.3 billion metric tons of plastics produced, 6.3 billion metric tons have become plastic waste. Air, water, land you name it, they are found everywhere, microplastics are found in 90 percent of table salt. They choke drains; make places filthy; and animals feed on them as they smell like food. A mistaken identity! Over a period, the toxic chemicals in them leaches out into the surroundings and when lit, it releases neurotoxic fumes that are risky to human health, further degrading the environmental conditions and leads to illness and possible death of the animals.
Plastics are polymers; they are petroleum-based products. A conversion technology, performed within a heated sealed reactor in the absence of oxygen known as the Thermo Catalytic Depolymerization (TCD), cracks the long chains of polymers to produce usable fuel, moisture, and synthetic gas that is used in the process. Each ton of plastic can produce 600 to 650 liters of poly-fuel that can be used directly for the burning in kerosene stoves, boilers, furnaces, certain types of gensets, etc. besides using a part of the same poly fuel also to run the TCD unit. This process also produces 5 to 10% residual char that can be used as a road filler with bitumen.
Another similar process that is more convenient than TCD is Polycrack®, the world’s first patented heterogeneous catalytic process, which converts unsegregated, multiple feed of municipal solid waste (MSW) with moisture up to 50%, automobile fluff, organic waste including garden waste, etc. into hydrocarbon liquid fuels, gas, carbon and water. Implementing such conversion technologies in every city can tackle the menace of MSW to a great extent.
The good old Kabadiwalas of today, have gone digital in most cities. They are a crucial link to provide door-to-door service to collect the recyclables like paper, plastic, metals, glass, etc. that we generate on a daily basis, and take it to the recyclers; thus, promoting segregation keep the system of waste management sustainable and reduces the burden on the landfills.
E-waste, on the other hand, should not be confused with and dealt in the same way as we do to dispose the usual recyclables. They pose a serious environmental hazard, as they harmful contain chemicals such as mercury, lead, etc. If not properly handled by the professionals and disposed scientifically, then they can cause immense damage to the environment and human health. To protect human health and the environment, from any hazardous consequences caused by the unscientific waste management, it is our civic duty to locate and hand over the E-waste only to the authorized E-waste dealer.
We owe gratitude to the information technology available to us at a click of a button. By virtue of it, we can always search, identify, locate and seek the right advice to recycle the recyclables and be a responsible, conscientious environment citizen. Wise act!
Let us be that change!
By Nita Ganguly, National Coordinator — Waste Management, Climate Reality India, Educator and Author
