Building Pune: PMC plans new processing plant to tackle city's textile, furniture waste

Indian Express

4 days ago

Struggling to tackle the large volumes of textile and furniture waste being dumped in open spaces across the city, the Pune civic body has decided to set up a first-of-its-kind waste processing plant to scientifically dispose of the discarded material.
The processing plant will be set up in an area reserved for public purpose in Sus, Mahalunge or Bavdhan Budhruk, at a cost of Rs 13.03 crore, with Rs 66.08 crore set aside for its operation, repair and maintenance for the next 15 years, civic officials said.
Around 2,400 tonnes of waste—segregated wet and dry waste is collected separately—is generated every day under the jurisdiction of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC). 'Around 3 per cent of this is textile and furniture waste,' said Sandeep Kadam, in-charge of the solid waste management department.
While textile waste includes clothes, mattresses, pillows, bags, etc, furniture waste includes the waste generated after property renovations. 'There is no facility to tackle this properly. It is either dumped by citizens in open spaces or water bodies, leading to blockage of drains, or dumped near processing plants,' Kadam added.
With the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) raising concerns over such waste piling up near processing plants, the PMC decided to set up a processing plant exclusively for textile and furniture waste, Kadam said.
The PMC has shortlisted Pune-based Green Pruthvi Solutions to set up the processing facility that can handle 75 tonnes of dry waste per day, said Kadam. 'The agency will examine the waste and sort it out for reuse, recycling, or energy generation. The textile waste can be used to make items like doormats, and that which cannot be used can be processed to prepare Refuse Derived Fuel to be used in furnaces by factories,' he added.
The PMC has to commit to providing expenses for operations, repair and maintenance for 15 years, so it has been decided to add a budgetary provision for the processing plant every year, Kadam said.
That Pune city was ranked the eighth cleanest city in the country for 2024, a jump of one position from 2023, is also playing on the minds of the authorities. 'Though the PMC improved its ranking by one position, the target is to be in the top three. One of the main reasons for low scoring is unprocessed legacy waste, and this will be tackled by setting new waste processing plants this year,' Prithviraj B P, Additional Municipal Commissioner, said.
Ajay Jadhav is an Assistant Editor with The Indian Express, Pune. He writes on Infrastructure, Politics, Civic issues, Sustainable Development and related stuff. He is a trekker and a sports enthusiast.
Ajay has written research articles on the Conservancy staff that created a nationwide impact in framing policy to improve the condition of workers handling waste.
Ajay has been consistently writing on politics and infrastructure. He brought to light the lack of basic infrastructure of school and hospital in the hometown of Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde even as two private helipads were developed by the leader who mostly commutes from Mumbai to Satara in helicopter.
Ajay has been reporting on sustainable development initiatives that protects the environment while ensuring infrastructure development. ... Read More