Indian Express 19.11.2010
Manure from garbage: PMC looks to hit market
Express News Service Tags : Pune Municipal Corporation, garbage, PMC Posted: Fri Nov 19 2010, 01:16 hrs
Pune: The Pune Municipal Corporation has started generating manure from garbage at its two vermi-composting plants, each having a capacity of processing 100 tonnes of waste a day, and is planning to sell in the open market.While the initiative to generate energy from waste is now being promoted by the state government as a model for all civic bodies in the country, the civic administration also proposing land reservation for garbage-processing projects in various parts of the city in the new development plan.
“The project was commissioned in August and has now started yielding results with the first cycle of converting waste to manure getting completed. The manure would be sent for laboratory testing before making it available in the market,” said Suresh Jagtap, deputy municipal commissioner and in-charge of solid waste management department of PMC.
The two projects at Ramtekdi and Hadapsar Industrial estate can generate 10 tonnes of manure a day. “The vermi-compost plants are under the supervision of experts so that the process is implemented meticulously,” he said, adding that the success of product has resulted in representatives of other civic bodies visiting the project.
“The PMC has stopped open dumping of garbage from May after the villagers of Uruli Devachi launched an agitation. The 1,400 tonnes of garbage generated in the city is processed everyday, but more sites would be needed in future. Thus, the solid waste management department has demanded that there should be land reservation for projects across the city.”
He said the public opposition to processing plants in their areas owing to bad odour was misplaced as the situation was not bad as had been projected.
The civic administration efforts to treat waste in a decentralised manner through biogas plants is also gaining momentum and 13 plants of five tonnes each are operational across the city. “There has been a demand for small plants from the elected representatives but this is hampered due to lack of space. A list of 40 amenity spaces was given to us but the department could manage to get a mere three out of them.”
A small biogas plant is able to generate electricity that would meet the demands of the nearby civic offices and gardens. “The state government was focusing on waste-to-energy projects and had written to all civic bodies in the state to follow the PMC work.” The civic administration, meanwhile, has suspended the supply of wet garbage to farmers following a garbage van accident that killed two persons near Pirangut.
