The best tribute to Mahatma Gandhi on his birth anniversary on October 2, Mathura MP Hema Malini inaugurated the country’s first plastic to diesel conversion plant in Mathura, Uttar Pradesh claiming that this plant will fulfill PM Narendra Modi’s dream of a Swachh Bharat.
Notably, a model of this plant had been placed for a demonstration before PM Modi when he had arrived in Mathura some time back as a part of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. This model is now working on a full scale at the Mathura Municipal Corporation’s (MMC) trenching grounds.
Talking to India Today, Assistant City Commissioner of Mathura AK Singh said that this plant will eliminate the plastic waste from Mathura and it will be turned into more useful diesel which will then be used by the Mathura Municipal Corporation for its own garbage trucks. Also, the MMC has completely banned single-use plastics in the city limits.
AK Singh said, “This plant will eliminate five metric tonne plastic every day from the city, converting it into diesel. Several hundred tonnes of plastic waste has already been accumulated at the trenching grounds by the municipal corporation and more will be collected in the days to come, so that this plant continues to work efficiently and without stopping.”
The assistant city commissioner of Mathura said that the plant will work on a public-private partnership (PPP) model for which the MMC has signed a contract with Paterson Energy.
Social activist Deep Sharma said that such a plant would have served its purpose better in Agra where the amount of plastic waste generated is much higher, being larger and more urbanised than Mathura. “If established in Agra, this plant could have served as a model for other cities to emulate since Agra is an internationally known city and it catches better global attention than Mathura,” Deep Sharma said.
Deep Sharma added that the organic wastes generated in Agra are being converted into manure. “If the plastic waste could also be eliminated in an eco-friendly manner, Agra could soon lose the tag of one of the dirtiest cities in India,” Deep Sharma said.
He appealed to the Agra Mayor Naveen Jain to make efforts to get a similar plastic to diesel conversion plant established in Agra.