GUWAHATI, Dec 12 - Guwahati seems to be making strides to get rid of the menace it is facing from plastic waste. The Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Oil India Ltd (OIL) and the Numaligarh Refinery Ltd (NRL) for supply of waste plastic to a proposed 10 tonnes per day (TPD) waste plastic-to-fuel conversion plant.
The OIL and the NRL have also issued a Letter of Intent (LoI) to M/s Rasha Infrastructure, Hyderabad, for executing the waste-to-fuel (W2F) project in a joint venture, through a bidding process.
The MoU said the fund for the project will come from the corporate social responsibility (CSR) funds of the OIL and the NRL. The segregated waste plastic for the project will be provided by the GMC to the extent possible from collection of solid waste in Guwahati, for which the OIL and the NRL shall pay the civic body for all the costs involved, including the 6 per cent additional administrative charges, the MoU said.
The GMC disclosed the above in its affidavit filed before the Kolkata-based Eastern Zone (EZ) Bench of the National Green Tribunal (NGT), in connection with the case (Original Application No. 19/2014/EZ; Rohit Choudhury versus Union of India and others), which was filed in regard to the adverse impact of the West Boragaon Solid Waste Management Plant on the Deepor Beel, the lone Ramsar Site Wetland of the State.
The OIL and the NRL approached the GMC for segregated waste plastic for the W2F project, while for the required plot of land, they shall approach the Deputy Commissioner, Kamrup (Metro), or Kamrup and the Revenue Department of the State Government, the MoU said.
According to the MoU, the civic body has agreed to provide the segregated waste plastic feedstock for the proposed W2F project to the extent possible from waste collection in the city of Guwahati. However, the OIL, the NRL and the contractor M/s Rasha Infrastructure, Hyderabad, will be at liberty to procure the required plastic feedstock from other sources or open market to meet any shortfall, said the MoU.
The OIL and the NRL will once again technically examine the feasibility of the project before final implementation. However, the GMC will not bear any cost for implementation of this project, including the required segregation (source, dumping site or anywhere else), collection and transportation of waste, the MoU said.
It further said that waste plastic being the menace for the GMC and the project is being set up to curb the same, it shall try, to the extent possible, that the plastic is continuously collected at source with no extra financial burden being passed on to the civic body.
The civic body will engage NGOs for collection of plastic/dry waste at source and the collected materials shall be separately transported to a mutually agreed place, from where the contractor shall arrange transport on their own to the plant site with no extra cost and financial burden on the civic body, said the MoU.
According to a research paper � �Present scenario of solid waste with special reference to plastic and other non-biodegradable solid waste and its management for the sustainable urban poor development in Guwahati city, Assam, India,� � authored by Amarjyoti Kashyap, Jatin Kalita, Sarbeswar Kalita and Kripaljyoti Mazumdar in 2010, in Guwahati alone, generation of plastic waste worsens the situation with more than 5,000 kg per day as per the report (Anonymous, 2004).
Though carry bags account for only 15 per cent of the plastic waste generated in the city, these bags are considered as the major responsible factor for clogging of drain and causing artificial waterlogging due to the Guwahatians� habit of throwing them after use, the paper said.
