Topic: Research, Development & Commercialization of Alternative Fuel from Non-Recyclables Plastic Waste to Lower Green House Gas Emission in Cement Industries and Economic Upliftment of Marginalized & Rural Community

Project Description:

In Nepal, proper management of non-recyclables plastic waste is a major challenge. Due to plastic waste air, water and land is being polluted. Rural communities’ health is being affected by the open burning of plastic & using plastic as fuel during cooking, agricultural land is being toxic by microplastic and Himalayan trekking routes are being heavily polluted by waste plastic. Similarly on one hand marginalized and rural communities peoples who are engaged in managing plastic waste in rural & urban areas haven’t got any opportunities to earn revenue by selling non-recyclables plastic and on other hand, import & shortage of coal and carbon emission of cement industry is a major challenge and this problem can be broadly solved by utilizing plastic waste especially non-recycled plastic as an alternative fuel source. Out of 30+ cement manufacturers, if 20% of the clinker based cement industries of Nepal substitute 10% of coal feed by RDF, then around 300 Tons of plastic waste (50% of the total plastic waste generation of Nepal can be utilized which substitute about $60,000 coal import per day. Many developed nations like (Austria, Germany, Sweden, the Philippines) have used co-processing technology in a more environmentally friendly way for many decades but in Nepal, this technology has not been implemented yet by the cement industries and government lacks the knowledge about the technology. To bridge this gap and implement the use of RDF, we Green Road, Nepal Academy of Science and Technology, Pokhara Metropolitan City and Sarbottam Cement Industry jointly collaborate and work on this project. In this project we are working on research, trials & testing for implementation & commercialization of co-processing Refused derived fuel (RDF) in the cement industry for managing a large quantity of rural and urban area non-recyclables plastic solid waste (mainly waste like mixed plastic, multilayer metallic coated plastic, packaging plastic, styrofoam, PVC flex, PVC pipes, nylon textiles, plastic shoes & slippers as a raw material

Objectives:

• Research and generation of technical & economic evidences for refused derived fuel substitute at cement industries of Nepal
• Supply chain and sustainable business model development for commercialization of technology
• Awareness of technology to relevant stakeholders
• Policy dialogue for policy formation and technology adoption

Expected  Impact:

Social and Health Impact:

• Combination of all the impacts of waste & resources management and utilization, revenue source & job creation through co-processing is a comprehensive package for socio-economic development of marginalized & rural communities
• The project directly benefits to the waste workers, marginalized and rural communities who are working in informal and formal waste management sector as it helps them to generate the extra revenue source by selling non-recyclables waste to suppliers from the commercialization of this project.
• Health problems arising from carcinogenic gases from plastic burning to rural peoples can be reduced, increase in agriculture yield due to reduction in soil toxicity, reduction of pollution of land & water from microplastic litters, and better tourism and hospitality experience in trekking region due to minimal plastic litters

Technological Impact:

• Generation of strong research and evidence based primary data on co-processing technology using non-recyclable plastic for the first time in Nepal
• Policy level discussion and dialogues will be started and the process for policy drafting will begin for co-processing technology
• Production of researchers in implementation of co-processing and Publications regarding the research Environmental Impact
• Decrease in GHG emission in rural areas due to open burning and decrease health[1]related issues of rural communities. GHG reduction due to RDF substitution in the cement industry.
• One of the solution for the cement industry to make their industry greener and environmentally friendly and meet to meet COP26 goals of carbon emission

 Economical Impacts:

• Processing and utilization of more than 30 tons per day of non-recyclable plastic waste collected from cities & rural areas through rural communities and waste collectors and import substitute of around $4000/daY
• Decrease in trade deficit by 5-10% in import of coal for Industry like Sarbottam Cement as well as tax benefits to government from co-processed waste
• Saving of landfill site life span of Pokhara Municipality by two to five times based on collection efficiency.
• Development of strong supply chain networks with rural communities, waste entrepreneurs, bulk waste generator