Thiruvananthapuram: The plastic shredding units at Palayam, which could have come in handy in the council’s campaign against plastics, have been defunct for years. The two units, each of which costs more than Rs 1 lakh, were installed at the market in 2012. Palayam councillor Aisha Baker says, “the units were installed during the previous council. I have to enquire whether the warranty period is over.”
The units procured, much before 2012, were lying unused for long as they could not be set up anywhere owing to protests, according to councillor Palayam Rajan. He was the councillor of Palayam when these were put at Connemara market.
He says, “one unit was originally meant to be installed at Manacaud in 2010 when Jayan Babu was the Mayor. The other was a unit at Vilappilsala. Since these were lying unused, they went out of order.” The blade of one of the units was replaced, says Rajan.
“But later the Clean Kerala Company was formed. They had said that they would take plastic in any form. So, we thought we would not need the shredding units anymore,” he says. However, Clean Kerala could not live up to its promise. The corporation will have to make use of the shredding units as the plastics can be used in road tarring. Health standing committee chairperson K. Sreekumar says, “the two units will be repaired at the earliest. We will be discussing this issue, very soon.”
