Sullia in Dakshina Kannada has started an integrated dry waste management centre under the Swachh Bharat Mission, bringing mechanical sorting and baling into the town’s handling of plastic and other dry waste. The facility is located at the waste dumping yard in Kalcharpe and is intended to reduce the accumulation of waste near the town panchayat office, vehicle parking area and other public locations.
Waste collected in Sullia is separated into wet and dry fractions. Wet waste is handed over to private operators for conversion into compost, while dry waste had previously been stored in sacks. Under the new system, dry waste is taken to the management centre and processed through a sorting machine before being compressed into separate bales using a baling machine.
The centre has been built at a cost of ₹32 lakh, while equipment worth ₹15 lakh has been installed. This includes a dry waste separation machine, lifting equipment and a shifting vehicle costing ₹9 lakh, along with a baling machine costing ₹6 lakh. The machines are electrically operated and divide the collected waste into categories before compressing it for storage and transport.
The facility handles materials including white plastic, coloured plastic covers, cloth, paper, juice and liquor tetra packs, and plastic bottles. Although the baling machine can produce a bale of about 200 kilograms at a time, the panchayat is currently preparing bales weighing between 80 kg and 100 kg to make transportation easier. Each bale is weighed, marked with its weight in kilograms and stored separately.
The centre has already processed between four and five tonnes of dry waste into bales, according to Basavaraj H.R., chief officer of Sullia Town Panchayat. The panchayat plans to accumulate approximately 15 tonnes before inviting a tender to sell the material to factories that recycle plastic.
The start of processing has coincided with a gradual reduction in dry waste stored near the panchayat office and at Kalcharpe. The chief officer said the centre had made dry waste disposal easier and that the plastic waste problem could be reduced by 90% because the material would be sent for recycling.
The next step is the tender-based sale of the baled dry waste to recycling units after the targeted quantity is accumulated. The report does not specify the names of prospective recycling companies or the operating capacity and daily throughput of the centre.
