The Hindu 18.12.2013
7 biogas plants for waste treatment in Attingal
The Attingal municipality will set up seven
high-capacity biogas plants in various public places as part of its
efforts to treat biodegradable waste at source.
Work
had commenced on the plants at the waste treatment yard at Chudukad,
public market, Government Boys Higher Secondary School, Government Girls
Higher Secondary School, District Institute for Education and Training,
Industrial Training Institute and Government College, municipal
vice-chairman M. Pradeep told
The Hindu
.
“The government has sanctioned a sum of Rs.57 lakh
towards installing the plants. The private agency entrusted with the
task of constructing the plants has been given six months’ time to
complete the work,” he said. While the plant being set up inside the
waste yard could process 1,000 kg waste a day, the plants at other
places could process 300 to 500 kg a day, he said.
Though
the civic body had not yet decided on how to utilise the gas produced
from the plant inside garbage yard, the construction on the rest of the
premises was being done in a way that the useable methane could be used
in the stoves in kitchen, health supervisor of the municipality Ajaya
Kumar said.
The municipality, which has won several
awards from the State government for putting in place a mechanism for
collection and disposal of waste, has drawn up an action plan to involve
private commercial establishments in its decentralised garbage
management plan.
Setting up of biogas plants or other
decentralised garbage management methods would be made mandatory at
commercial establishments to get their licences renewed, Mr. Kumar said
adding that once commercial establishments adopted source-level waste
disposal method, the flow of waste to the dumping yard could be reduced
considerably.
As of now, 14 to 16 tonnes of waste per day was generated within the municipal limits, he added.
The civic body’s effort to distribute biogas plants to households has yielded good results.
So
far, as many as 115 applications were received and 68 of them had been
given a biogas plant and stove. By the end of this year, 300 persons
would be given the plant and stove. The plants, which could process 5 kg
of solid waste, would cost Rs.8,800.
The Suchitwa Mission had provided Rs.24 lakh as subsidy for the programme, he said.
Seventy-five
per cent of the total cost of the plant would be borne by the Suchitwa
Mission and the municipality. The decentralisation move was aimed at
lessening the burden on the existing treatment plant, he said.