What happens to your garbage once it leaves your home? Most of it travels great distances in Pune city, and goes through several stages of recycling and reprocessing. And, many of these return to your homes, in a different shape, like a T-shirt. Some of the reprocessed items land at more exotic places, like in a 3-D printer. If you missed Part 1 of our series, you can read it here.
One man’s waste is another man’s gold. As cities and urban areas struggle with municipal solid waste, the recycling industry has seen a very rapid growth. From plastics to peels of vegetables, more than 90 per cent of the waste is recycled back into our households in different forms. Even dust, and what is termed as non-recyclable, finds its way into brick kilns or construction waste recycling machines to come out as new useful material.
Industry experts say India’s recycling industry is expected to be worth about $50 million by 2025, growing at a rate of 7 per cent per year. Given the scope of the work, technological solutions which allow for scientific and efficient recycling solutions are needed. Many start-ups have come up to solve the growing problem for municipal solid waste which recycle the waste into a wide variety of things, from manure to fibre used in 3-D printing.
Wet Waste
Pune district, on an average, generates 1,329 tonnes of wet garbage every day, which is around 41.3 per cent of the total waste generated in the city. From vegetable peels to hotel waste, the wet category encompasses a large variety of organic waste which, if treated properly, can turn into manure or can be used to generate electricity in units. The Solid Waste Management Rules mandates that garbage that is handed over to the door-to-door waste collector is segregated at the source. Treatment of separated waste is easier but given the mixed nature of garbage which finds its way into the treatment plants, the process becomes more difficult.
Some civic minded individuals in the district manage their wet waste right in their homes. Organic waste like vegetable peels, egg shells, animal bones etc are sent to vermicompost pits where soil bacteria and earthworm eat their way through the waste to convert it into rich garbage. Housing societies in both Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation have constructed pits where daily segregation of wet garbage is put. Once a month they are turned over to harvest manure which is used in the society gardens.
Even dust, and what is termed as non-recyclable, finds its way into brick kilns or construction waste recycling machines to come out as new useful material. At a sorting shed in Wanawadi. Express Photo by Arul Horizon
Kendriya Vihar Cooperative housing society in Moshi Pradhikran area of Pimpri Chinchwad has seven pits for wet garbage and two large open pits for garden waste. Subhash Gargote, the secretary of the society said the society which has 307 flats generates around 500 kgs of wet garbage on a daily basis. The society, he said also generates garden waste in form of dry leaves etc, has two large pits to take care of them.
“If we sent the garden waste with the municipal waste collectors then a single vehicle will get filled. Thus the society has decided to decompose the same in situ,” he said. The society has appointed a person to tend to these pits. A special organic mixture is sprayed on the pits to accelerate the decomposition process. Once the pit is emptied the manure is used in the garden,” Gargote said.
At decentralized waste management centers in Pune, shredders and blowers are used to treat wet garbage before further treatment. Some centers convert wet garbage into power while in some it is simply changed into manure
From vegetable peels to hotel waste, the wet category encompasses a large variety of organic waste which, if treated properly, can turn into manure or can be used to generate electricity in units. Express Photo by Arul Horizon
Plastic Waste
Once considered a blessing because of the extreme convenience of use and its multiple advantages, plastics are now seen as a big problem. A nationwide ban on single-use plastic has already been put in place, and the use of a lot of other plastic items are also strongly discouraged.
However, since these are used for innumerable purposes, plastics continue to remain ubiquitous, and constitute about five per cent of the household garbage. The quest for solutions and research into the recyclability of plastics has also been impressive.
India’s plastic recycling industry is pegged to hit $52 billion mark next year. The industry is consistently registering a growth of 6-7 per cent per year. The basic process of plastic recycling involves breaking down the plastics into microfibres from where they are fashioned into next generation of articles. From roads to printer fibre for 3-D printers, recycled plastics have found numerous usage.
One of the essential conditions for plastic recycling is that it should not be contaminated. For restaurant packing, for example, this is a problem and such plastic bags end up in the landfills. Extended producers responsibility (ERP) for plastic pouches enables users to take responsibilities for their plastic pouches. Thus dairies have set up ERP norms where they take responsibility for the plastic pouches they sell their milk into. Pouches are washed and recycled either at the recycler’s end or at a common facility.
Plastic in our daily use comes in various forms, from plastic bags to packaging materials. However the recycling process is almost the same and involves process like sorting, shredding, washing , melting and collecting. The small pellets which is obtained as the end product in the recycling process can be re-fashioned into other things. PET (polyethelyene terephthalate) bottles these days are being recycled into fashion merchandise. Sport brands have also fashioned into running shoes which are traded on ecommerce platforms. Plastic roads is a recent development where in shredded plastic is mixed with asphalt to lay roads.
From roads to printer fibre for 3-D printers, recycled plastics have found numerous usage. At a feeder point in Kothrud. Express Photo by Arul Horizon
Glass Waste
Glass is perhaps the only waste which is recycled 100 percent. Glass also constitutes about five per cent of the daily garbage generation.
From glass bottles to broken cutlery, every single bit of glass can be recycled almost infinitely. Although glass bottles are fragile, their recyclability adds advantage to their usage as packaging material. Glass bottles are sorted by colour and then either washed and disinfected for immediate use. Glass shreds or broken bulbs are added to construction material waste to be recycled.
So what lands at the landfill sites then
Landfill sites are supposed to be the last resort of waste which can’t be recycled. Thus, multiple layer plastics which are used for packaging purposes, soiled food containers, glass shards, sanitary pads, soiled clothes, torn cloth pieces etc are dumped at the landfill, left to undergo natural decomposition.
In reality, however, the landfills see dumping of more than what is supposed to reach with both organic, and inorganic waste making its way to such places. Over the years, the landfills have become major sources of pollution in the city, contaminating both air as well as water.
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