Pune’s new initiative to recycle thermocol waste

The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has launched a thermocol recycling initiative in association with the Solid Waste Collection and Handling (SWaCH) collective of waste-pickers and KK Nag Private Limited. Through this, Pune hopes to have a sustainable thermocol recycling system in place.

This follows a five-month pilot that was conducted in the city, where 7.83 tonne (7,830kg) of thermocol waste was collected, saving 32 bulk-refuse-carriers’ trips to landfills, reports The Times of India.

Pune generates around 0.4-0.5 tonne thermocol waste every day. Through this effort, the PMC wants to ensure end-to-end thermocol collection, reduce costs and overall burden on existing solid waste management systems, reports

SWaCH is engaging with citizens, training its wastepickers and PMC’s staff and monitoring the system for segregated handling of discarded thermocol. K K Nag Pvt Ltd is recycling all the thermocol at its own facility and reusing the material.