Sullia town in Dakshina Kannada has begun operations at an integrated dry-waste management centre built under the Swachh Bharat Mission, introducing mechanical segregation and baling of plastic, paper, textiles and other recyclable waste collected from the town.
The centre is located at the waste dumping yard in Kallcharpe. Its commissioning is expected to ease the accumulation of dry waste near the town panchayat office, vehicle parking areas and other public locations, where discarded material had been stored in bags. Prajavani reported the development on October 9, quoting Sullia Town Panchayat chief officer Basavaraj H.R.
Under the town’s waste collection system, waste gathered each day is separated into wet and dry categories. Wet waste is given to private operators for conversion into compost, while dry waste was previously stored in gunny bags. The new facility uses a waste-sorting machine to separate dry waste into categories before a baling machine compresses it into transportable bundles.
The centre has been built at a cost of ₹32 lakh, while equipment worth ₹15 lakh has been installed. This includes a dry-waste segregation machine, lifting equipment and a shifting vehicle costing ₹9 lakh, along with a baling machine costing ₹6 lakh. The machines operate on electricity and process different categories of dry waste before it is compressed into bundles.
The materials being processed include white plastic, coloured plastic covers, cloth, paper, juice and liquor tetra packs, and plastic bottles. The baling machine can produce bundles of about 200 kilograms at a time, but the panchayat is currently making bundles weighing between 80 kg and 100 kg to make transportation easier. Each bundle is weighed, labelled with its weight in kilograms and stored for further disposal.
The town panchayat plans to send the baled dry waste to factories that recycle plastic. According to Basavaraj, between four and five tonnes of dry waste have already been converted into bundles. Once the accumulated quantity reaches about 15 tonnes, the panchayat plans to invite a tender and sell the material to plastic recycling factories.
The centre’s early operation has coincided with a gradual reduction of dry waste stored near the panchayat office and at Kallcharpe, according to the report. The town panchayat has said that recycling the material could reduce the plastic-waste problem by about 90 per cent. The next stated milestone is the accumulation of approximately 15 tonnes of baled dry waste, after which the panchayat intends to begin the tender process for sale to recycling units.
