ITC Ltd, a diversified conglomerate and a pioneer in building scalable and sustainable solid waste management models in India,today announced a first of its kind 360-degree model for sustainable management of Multi-Layered Plastic (MLP) packaging wastein Pune in partnership with SWaCH, a leading waste-pickers cooperative and with active patronage and cooperation from the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC). The initiative also marks the launch of a multi-layer plastic waste storage facility in UruliDevachiPune, with a capacity to handle 200 MT of MLP waste per month. Launched on the World Environment Day, the facility is a fitting tribute to the citizens of Pune, whose active participation will ensure the success and a rapid scale-up of this unique programme.
Multi-Layered Plastic (MLP) packaging is the mainstay of the modern food industry given its superior ability to preserve the integrity of food. However, absence of sustainable models in India to enable its end-to-end recycling has been among the most compounding challenges of the waste management authorities Therefore, such plastics eventually end up inlandfill sites, as the last resort. The waste recycling trade have a value bias in favour of other forms of plastics and packaging as they fetch higher returns, leaving multi-layered-plastic packaging untreated with few takers.
In its first phase, ITC-and SWaCH in collaboration with PMC will operate a state-of-the-art waste processing facility with a capacity to manage 200 metric tonnes per month of MLP waste, providing an additional income stream to over 3,500 waste collectors who collect dry and wet waste separately every day covering 8.1 lakh properties across the city. The model enables scaling up the MLP recycling initiative progressivelyacross the city by setting up additional hubs.
As a part of this holistic model, ITC is also working with local recycling partner Shakti Plastics byextendingtechnical support and sharing best practices for better value realization from recycling MLP.
According to Mr. D. S. Molak, Jt. Commissioner, Pune Municipal Corporation (SWM): “The city of Pune has been a frontrunner in achieving amongst the highest levels of segregation of dry and wet wastes at source in the country. However, we were facing a huge challenge in managing the growing quantum of multi-layered-plastic waste because of lack of interest from the recycling trade chain in processing the such material. As a result, multi-layered-plastic waste was ending up in landfill sites in large volumes. The present initiative of ITC and SWaCHwith active support from PMC presents a new approach towards providing a step-by-step solution and energizing the waste collection chains with specific focus on multi-layered-plastics which will go a long way in protecting the environment.We at PMC are proud to be among the first ones to adopt a sustainable model of this kind and scale for recycling managing multi-layered plastics in the country”.
According to Mr. Chitranjan Dar, Head of Projects, EHS and Quality Assurance, ITCLimited: “ITC’s initiatives in solid waste management of which plastic waste management is a significant component, aim at providing a 360-degree solutions framework to address the critical issue of waste management through packaging optimization, resource conservation, recycling of waste generated in its operations, source segregation, collection, reuse and recycling. Over the next decade, ITC will deploy superior solutions so that 100% of its product packaging will be reusable, recyclable or compostable. ITC’s flagship initiative Wellbeing out of Waste (WOW), focuses on providing an end-to-end sustainable and a scalable solution spanning the entire value chain right from awareness, segregation, collection and promotion, reuse or recycle of solid waste. The benefits of this programme extends to 77 lakh citizens of the country.Today, ITC has the distinction of being a Solid Waste Recycling Positive Company for the last 12 years
“With the ITC-SWaCH-PMC partnership for the city of Pune, we are taking yet another landmark step in building a model which goes beyond segregation of solid waste, to addressing one of the acute challenges of managing and recycling of the mounting multi-layered-plastic waste. We, along with our partners are looking forward to expanding the programme to cover the entire city of Pune in near future”
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. SarthakTapasvi from SWaCHsaid: “In ITC, we have found a willing and a supportive partner with a long-term commitment to build an outcome-focused sustainable waste management model for multi-layered-plastic waste. ITC with its valuable management expertise, is playing an instrumental role in enabling a socially and financially sustainable model which incentivizes the existing recycling trade in the city while at the same time channelizing maximum benefit to the principle recyclers: the waste-pickers. The model for the first time introduces a price for MLP waste which creates an incentive for the waste collectors to collect and sort MLP waste as a separate stream. This program ensures a direct linkage between the citizens (generators), the waste-pickers, and the recyclers, with potential for city-wise scale through replication.”
Said Mr. Harshad Barde, General Secretary of the waste picker union, KKPKP: “Waste pickers are often slammed for the waste that escapes the collection stream and litters the streets for no fault of theirs. For the first time, a waste management programme recognizes the importance of adequately incentivizing the waste segregators and waste pickers for collecting multi-layered-plastic waste, which so far did not exist. This initiative will positively and directly impact waste pickers by creating value financially, whilst benefitting the environment.”
The ITC-SWaCH-PMC model enables collection of good quality MLP waste straight from the source which opens up multiple avenues of end uses including recycling. The value realization from applications like recycling is made possible as this waste is segregated at source and it is this value which gets transferred to the waste collector in the form of incremental income, over and above the proceeds from sale of other recyclables.The model also lessens the burden on the municipal waste management system by diverting waste from landfill, thereby resulting in environment stewardship.
As a first step, the model involves introducing a price for MLP waste which creates an incentive for the waste collectors to collect and sort MLP waste as a separate stream. Next, the entire supply chain is set up to transfer the waste from collection points across the city to an MLP Collection Hub. At the hub, the aggregated MLP waste is further sorted, baled and shipped to a recycling partner.
- Mangal Umap, a SWaCH member and one of the first to contribute in the new programme says, “This (MLP) was one of the waste items that we did not know what to do with. Storage is not easy as it’s voluminous and no one was willing to take it. It ended up as inert waste in landfills. For those of us who work in waste, every little bit that we can divert away from the waste stream is heartening.” She has already diverted 160 Kgs of MLP waste in the first effort. “Thanks to the programme by ITC and SwaCH, we can now divert this waste away from the waste stream on a regular basis and also earn additional incomes” she says.
