Recycling plant now producing fluff fuel

CEBU, Philippines - A recycling plant that converts soft plastic into fluff fuel has started operation at the Inayawan Sanitary Landfill since Tuesday.

Lawyer Jade Ponce, chairman of the Cebu City Solid Waste Management Board, said the P30 million machine has started to operate at no cost to the government.

Ponce said the Mansei Recycling Plant is sponsored by the Japan International Cooperation Agency.

Ponce said that the JICA-CEBU-MANSEI project aims to produce high quality fluff fuel from plastic wastes and provide alternative fuel to cement producers in Cebu.

“This is part of the efforts we have in order to have a sustainable city,” Ponce said, adding that the project will reduce plastic wastes dumped at the landfill.

He said that the project is a pilot study implemented by Jica Philippines together with Mansei Recycle Systems Co. and Yokohama.

Ponce said that Mansei will implement the project for two years, adding that the facility will be turned over to the city government at the last quarter of 2015.

The machine will process soft plastic materials received from waste pickers. The materials will then be segregated by hands through conveyors, and will be placed into a shredder to produce fluff fuel. The fuel will be blown into tonner bags and will be stored in fluff bags.

Soft plastic materials that will be converted to fuels come from the waste pickers who collect the materials at the surface of the landfill.

Ponce said that there is a proposal that Mansei will have its own special truck to collect plastic garbage from the barangays and other business establishments in the city.

The Inayawan Landfill was shut down by the city government last January 15.

Ponce said one of the benefits from the project is that it provides carbon neutral fuel that will substitute coal or oil to cement companies. The project also provides training and job opportunities to plant workers. (FREEMAN)