Finding value in Chennai’s discarded plastic waste

The suburbs of Chennai have started decentralising their waste management and incentivising the sanitary workers towards sustainable waste management through weekly distribution of the earnings from selling recyclables. In Chennai, however, barely a few wards are practicing decentralisation, with crores being spent on carting waste from the city to the dump yards of Kodungaiyur and Perungudi.

In the smaller municipalities around Chennai, the administration has decentralised their waste management, turning the biodegradable waste into compost and selling recyclables to generate extra income for the sanitary workers. “We have identified informal recyclers within the limit of each municipality and have set a fixed rate for the items. For example, a plastic bottle will sell for Rs 13 a kg, plastic packets can go from anywhere between Rs 2 to Rs 15 per kg.

The number of informal recyclers we have networked with depends on the waste generated. For instance, Chenglepet has 10 recyclers in the network, while Tambaram will have more. The amount generated from selling recyclables is distributed every Wednesday to the sanitary workers, in the presence of the Commissioner. Each worker ends up making anywhere between Rs 400-500 extra per week,” added an official from the Commissionerate of Municipal Administration.

In Chennai, however, plastic and other recyclables are collected every Wednesday – but only sporadically. And is far lower than the actual quantity that the city generates. So how valuable is the city’s recyclables? According to the back-of-the-napkin calculation, quite a bit.

According to the Greater Chennai Corporation, the city generates 5000 tonnes of waste per day. Out of this, 5.86 per cent is consumable plastic, amounting to roughly 300 tonnes per day. The local scrap dealers charge anywhere between Rs 8-12 for plastic from residents, depending on its condition. Considering an average rate of Rs 10, roughly Rs 30 lakh can be generated per day, by selling plastic recyclables. But, there are several factors, such as implementation of source segregation, ensuring the plastic is not soiled and is dry, to increase the value.

Similarly, 6.45 per cent of total waste generated per day is paper, which can also be recycled. Similar calculations show that Rs 60 lakh can be generated per day. Even if a fraction of the plastic and paper is recycled, it will not only generate revenue, which can be channelled to the sanitary workers, and will immensely reduce the load on the trash being transported to the dump yards in Kodungaiyur and Perungudi.

Currently, cities are spending crores for solid waste management. In Chennai, however, most of the waste is being transported to the dump yards. According to the data from the Corporation, only 4 per cent of the city’s garbage is processed daily, while 96 per cent is sent to the dump yards. Only 20 per cent of the city (40 wards) are practicing source segregation – a move critical to effective waste management.

Kabadiwalla Connect, an organisation working with the informal sector to ensure recyclables from households are directed to the local scrap dealers, has been working with an apartment complex in Mylapore, to ensure segregation. “We have installed Smart Waste Bins in the apartment, which will immediately alert the local recycler when the bin is full. In the first month, we management to get the households to source segregate and generated 20 kg of recyclable waste. This month, the number went up to 40 kg. We want to understand the motivators and incentives to solve the problem of source segregation,” said Prajeeth S, community manager at Kabadiwalla Connect.

He also pointed out that source segregation is mandatory for any solid waste management initiative. “If plastic is not recycled and gets into wet waste, it takes a long time to compost. The cost back to the municipality or corporation is high, if you also add the cost of transporting waste from transfer centres to the dump yards. If the plan is to incinerate mixed waste, it will result in toxic chemicals being released into the atmosphere,” Prajeeth said.

According to an analysis by the Citizen Consumer and Civic Action Group (CAG) of the solid waste management budget of the Corporation, the centralised waste management system is highly inefficient. In fact, the analysis showed that the biggest expense incurred by the Corporation is the payment for the privatisation (conservancy) of three zones (Rs 310.50 crore) while the salaries of the conservancy workers in all the other zones is merely Rs 222.97 crore.

“Chennai is divided into 15 zones, of which 3 Zones (Adyar, Kodambakkam and Teynampet) are handled by Ramky Enviro Engineers through a Special Purpose Vehicle, Chennai Municipal Solid Waste Pvt. Ltd. The budget states that Rs 310 crore is spent on this, making it the largest expense for the solid waste management department, not only in the current budget but also in the previous two budgets. This means that the GCC spends a whopping Rs 100 crore on each of these 3 zones.

“In comparison, the other zones are allocated only Rs 26 crore each, an amount that is clearly inadequate for the size and population of those zones. This only strengthens the argument against privatisation of Chennai’s solid waste management. It is not only an expensive and futile exercise but also citizens will not have the opportunity to scrutinise or raise questions against a private contractor,” stated the analysis.

Dharmesh Shah, a policy expert, said that it is high time cities include the environmental costs into the calculation. “Waste management is a colossal expenditure, which is currently being used to dump waste from the city to the dumping site.

The loss to the environment, public health and contamination of the groundwater is not factored in. If there is a system to sell recyclables and generate revenue, some of the costs can be off-set,” he said.