Clean Kerala Company will soon set up a waste processing unit at the Ernakulam South Railway Station. This is expected to clear the mountains of plastic waste piled up on the fringes of the marshalling yard at the station.
Following the successful implementation of the project in Thiruvananthapuram Central Railway Station at Thampanoor, the company has received the Centre's nod to set up such facilities at Kochuveli, Ernakulam and Palakkad.
“The processing unit to be set up at the stations will have the capacity to process two tonnes of waste," said Sreejith L K, assistant manager, Clean Kerala Company. Along with the plastic processing unit, a facility to process food waste will also be set up,” he said.
“The passengers dump all types of waste in the trash bins placed under the wash basin in trains. So, the waste is first segregated into food, plastic and recyclable ones,” he said. While food waste is converted into manure, recyclable items like aluminium foil, tetra-packets, newspaper and teacups are sold to recycling agents, he said.
“Systematic segregation of waste has enabled the company to collect items fit for recycling. Earlier, the waste items were dumped together. However, segregation has made it possible for us to sell each category separately. This, in turn, helped us manage the dry waste in the right manner,” he said. Also, staff engaged for the purpose have been trained to collect and segregate waste since the recycle value is crucial in processing dry waste, said Sreejith.
According to him, only a few more formalities remain with regard to the implementation of the project. “Once we get the remaining approvals, the project will take off. The size of the units at the three stations will be slightly different, with the Palakkad station getting a bigger unit,” he said. Till June, more than 10,000 kg of segregated waste from the trash bins in the trains ending at Thiruvananthapuram Central was sold, fetching the company over `1 lakh.