The new material recovery facility has been developed by Varanasi Municipal Corporation in partnership with Tetra Pak, GIZ and TERI

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Officials from GIZ India and VMC among others. (Credit: Business Wire India)

Varanasi Municipal Corporation (VMC), the governing body of the city of Varanasi in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, has commissioned a new material recovery facility (MRF) in Bhawania Pokhri, Belupur.

The new facility has been developed in partnership with Tetra Pak, Deutsche Gesellschaft für International Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) and The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI).

A part of Development and Management of Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs) in India, the facility aims to increase the collection of recyclable waste and help in strengthening the city’s waste management.

The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), Government of India is serving as the nodal Ministry for the NAMA project, which is backed by the Federal Ministry of the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU), Germany.

Varanasi Nagar Nigam municipal commissioner Gaurang Rathi said: “Public Private Partnerships initiatives like these will be instrumental in achieving sustainable MSW management in Varanasi. In my view, this decentralized MSW management model is ideal for replicating in other parts of Varanasi and to other cities.”

The new facility in Varanasi focuses on ensuring zero waste to landfill

Focused on ensuring zero waste to landfill, the new MRF will provide waste sorting services. It separates dry waste such as plastic, mixed-waste paper, paper-based cartons and bales.

VMC said that the MRF is built on a strategic site, which also hosts a VMC biogas plant capable of processing the collected wet waste and turn it into electricity, making it zero-waste site.

GIZ India Climate Change director Ashish Chaturvedi said: “The NAMA project is focusing on reducing Green House Gas (GHG) emissions due to unsustainable waste management like landfilling or burning of waste.

“With the inauguration of this MRF and the increased focus on awareness-building, we believe that the current waste landscape will see a massive change.”

For the MRF project, Tetra Pak has provided the required equipment.

Tetra Pak Asia Pacific sustainability vice-president Jaideep Gokhale said: “We are happy to share our expertise and experience with committed partners such as VMC, TERI and GIZ to help realise PM Modi’s vision of a ‘Swachh Bharat’ and further increase collection and recycling of used paper-based cartons.”

In November 2019, Tetra Pak in collaboration with Braskem has launched new packaging made with fully traceable plant-based polymers for the production of the packaging for the food and beverage industry.