Dalmia Cement is co-processing 1473t of plastics from Tiruchi City Corp at its Dalmiapuram plant in Tamil Nadu, India.
The segregated single-use plastics, including snack packets, carry bars, bottles and covers, are transported to the cement plant to be used as refuse-derived fuel (RDF).
The agreement with Dalmia Cement enables the city to reduce the cost of waste collection and processing. The waste is supplied to the plant in 8-9t truckloads from the resource recovery centres in all five zones in the city in a week. "A single trip to the factory costs about INR20,000 (US$232.41) and we are looking at ways to cut this cost by tying up with factories nearby,” said M Vijay Chandran, city health officer.
Officials added that with the implementation of an automated material recovery facility centre at the Ariyamangalam dump yard, segregation would improve. The facility will segregate the dry waste into RDF, recyclable, non-recyclable and inert fuels.
