'Pollutant waste for one serves as raw material for another'. The Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC), Vatva, Ahmedabad, is swearing by this notion and has taken upon itself the responsibility to set up a liquid and solid waste exchange bank which will utilize to the fullest, the waste chemicals generated by industrial units.
This waste, after processing, can serve as a raw material to other industries like textile and chemical. Vatva GIDC has also asked the surrounding industrial estates to join hands and collaborate for the proposed waste exchange bank.
Spent acid, a kind of liquid chemical waste, generated from sulphuric acid used in gypsum washeries of Vatva GIDC, can be treated and used as a key input in textile units. Another such chemical can be processed with chalk, to make raw material for cement industry.
Mr Kirti Patel, President of Vatva Industries Association told Fibre2fashion, “We will purchase or collect spent acid from units discharging it and stock it in our plant. We then plan to segregate it quality wise and sell it to small textile industries. Acid not usable by industry will be treated in their plant with Calcium Carbonate to turn it into gypsum which will be thereafter sold to cement industry. However, the industrial units will have to pay users charges for availing the services of waste exchange bank.”
Vatva GIDC will be investing Rs110 million for creating the waste exchange bank. Odhav and Naroda industrial estates are also involved in bringing this project to reality.
This apart, Vatva GIDC is also simultaneously upgrading its common effluent treatment plant (CETP) to control water pollution. This, it aims to do with the help of Germany-based Plevio Enviro Gmbh which will not only provide the technology for the CETP but will also help maintain it for 10 years.