The Meghalaya government has inked an environment-friendly deal with India’s leading cement company, Dalmia Cement, to help make the state plastic-free by 2022. Dalmia, along with one of Northeast’s leading cement brands, Topcem Cement, has decided to buy plastic waste to be used as fuel instead of coal for producing clinkers.
“Topcem and Dalmia cement plants have embarked on the initiative to turn plastic waste into fuel for their cement plants, and at the same time ensure that all the environmental standards are maintained. It will be a process very much within the control limits of the pollution board,” announced Meghalaya chief minister Conrad Sangma during an official programme in capital Shillong to mark the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi on Wednesday.
The chief minister said that Dalmia cement firm that offered to buy the plastic waste had its factory retrofitted to consume plastics in place of coal. The State Pollution Control Board would be monitoring the ambient air quality after the plastics are burned so that no harmful emission takes place.
“The State Pollution Control Board has been asked to monitor the entire process to ensure that no pollution takes place,” he said.
The initiative is part of the state government’s ‘Plastic Challenge’ organised in different villages with a view to encouraging effective plastic waste management among people and through the involvement of local organisations and tribal bodies.
The chief minister said that the government is looking into different modes of plastic recycling — recovering the waste or scrap plastic and reprocessing it into operational or useful products without causing pollution.
In a recent development, 17 tonnes of plastic waste has been collected from across the state by village-level volunteers and rag pickers, and recovered by a scrap dealer engaged by the Swachh Bharat Mission office. As per the agreement, the cement firm will pay Rs 30 per kg to the scrap dealer for collecting the plastic waste. Reports said some 5 tonnes of scrap plastic was collected from the Pynursla block in East Khasi Hills district.
Chief Minister Sangma also highlighted the different programmes taken up by the government in the past few months for a cleaner and plastic-free state by 2022 when Meghalaya will host the National Games.
A ‘Road to Change’ campaign has been launched for building roads using an eco-friendly process — Meghalaya has already built its first plastic road in Nongstoin town in 2018, and another in Tura this year.
“It is not that the administration is doing it alone. People themselves are doing it, NGOs are doing it. This has become a campaign,” said Ram Singh, DC, West Garo Hills.
To build the road in Tura, community volunteers were sent on a door-to-door purchase of plastic waste. Scrap plastic was recovered from the Rongkhon Songital dumping ground after a process of segregation, washing, drying and shredding. The plastic waste was then converted into a mixture that was added to the Bitumen used for road construction.
"We are trying to put in simple processes, which can improve the delivery mechanism. That's the kind of innovation we want," said CM Sangma, adding that the government has envisaged a policy that would bring about a balance between economic development and environmental sustainability.
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