The Hindu        26.08.2014  

Waste to energy plant likely by Jan 2015

A waste-to-energy plant where power supply is generated from garbage is likely to be commissioned by January 2015.

The plant in Venkatamangalam is expected to significantly reduce the strain on open spaces in some of the bigger urban pockets in the city’s southern suburbs such as Tambaram and Pallavaram by preventing dumping of garbage and its subsequent burning.

“Municipalities, not just in the city suburbs, but all over Tamil Nadu have been asked to adopt ‘reduce, recycle and reuse’ models while handling various types of wastes,” said B. Chandrakant Kamble, commissioner of municipal administration .

At the waste-to-energy plant in Venkatamangalam, around 15 km from Tambaram, the non-incineration facility will produce power from solid waste generated in Tambaram and Pallavaram municipalities. The project, spread over a 50-acre site at Venkatamangalam, is being executed under a public-private partnership on a design, build, operate and transfer scheme, Mr. Kamble added.

The plant, which was scheduled for completion by mid-2014, is expected to generate three megawatts of power every hour. “To reduce solid waste filling up dumping yards, Tambaram municipality has launched source segregation of wastes in 157 locations in 10 wards,” said a municipal official.

The municipal administration department has introduced three-coloured recycle bins in red, green and silver in a few localities, to make it easier for residents to pitch in to protect the environment. Each bin could be filled with 700 kilograms of waste.

“People have to choose the silver bin to dump non-degradable waste, red for bio-medical waste and green for food waste. This would make the job easier for municipal staff to take the energy-generating materials alone to Venkatamangalam,” the official added.