Case Study of Plastic Waste Management at N Panjampatty Village in Dindigul District as a business model

PLASTIC WASTE MANAGEMENT UNIT

AT

N.PANJAMPATTY VILLAGE PANCHAYAT

DINDIGUL DISTRICT

INTRODUCTION:

    Plastic cause pollution to land, air, water and to all means affect the life and also affect the environment badly. Littering of Plastic waste choke the drains and plastic ingestion by animals may lead to death and also it creates an insanitary condition to the surroundings. Burning of plastic waste, especially thermoset plastic waste is harmful, as it emits toxic gases. 

IEC/IPC INITIATIVES BY THE VILLAGE PANCHAYAT:

    N.Panjampatti Village located in Attur Block of Dindigul District faced issues related to Plastic Waste Management which is also an environmental issue. To overcome this issue, the Administration established a Plastic Waste Management Unit in 2013. The Village Panchayat consists of 2,532 Households with total Population of 7,476.

    Swachhagrahi’s, Self Help Group members and Thooimai Kaavalar’s from the Village carried out several IEC /IPC campaigns, door to door awareness for source segregation, reduce and reuse of plastic waste at households. This helped the Plastic Waste Management Unit receive only segregated plastic waste. Initially they processed the plastics only from this village and sold the shredded plastic to road contractors. Currently, the Plastic Waste Management Unit is serving more than 200 Village Panchayats in Dindigul District.

CAPITAL COST:

The Capital cost of Plastic Waste Management Unit was Rs.8,50,000/-which is for the purchase of machineries such as Dust remover, Shredder and Bailer.

OUTCOME:

DETAILS OF PLASTIC WASTE MANAGEMENT UNIT

DETAILS OF PLASTIC WASTE MANAGEMENT UNIT
S. No	Quantity of Plastic in the total collected waste per day	Quantity of Plastic shredded per day	Quantity of Plastic sold for Road laying till date	Total Revenue generated till date	Project cost of PWMU
1	250 kg	150 kg	86,000 kg	Rs.22,00,000	Rs.8,50,000

    Since establishment, a group of women with 6 members were working in this Plastic Waste Management Unit. So far, 106 tons of plastics were shredded and sold to road contractors at the rate of Rs.25/- and earned total amount of Rs.22,00,000/-from the year 2013. Around 190 km’s rural roads are laid with the shredded plastic. The unit is procuring plastic waste at a rate of Rs.5/- from the public and nearby villages. The operation and maintenance cost involving the manpower salary, electricity bill and raw material procurement is Rs.88,000/month. The average profit earned is Rs.1,50,000/annum.

WAY FORWARD: 

The Plastic Waste Management Unit has planned to extend their service in other villages and establish successful business models in neighbouring blocks too. Other options such as bit plastic for bitumen cakes are also being explored.

PLASTIC BUY BACK POLICY

    To make the initiative further effective plastic buy back policy is initiated in Dindigul District. This plastic waste brought to the Plastic Waste Management Unit by any member in the Village Panchayat is paid at the rate Rs 10 /- for 1 Kg of Segregated Plastic. This has created a huge momentum among the general public in managing the plastic waste. Now the Plastic Buyback Policy is scaled up throughout the state. 

    In addition, intensive IPC activities by the Motivator and Thooimai Kaavalars are created to the public in the Village Panchayat on the purchase of segregated plastic by the Plastic Waste Management Unit.