The Times of India                15.05.2013

Kozhikode gets a solution to waste menace

KOZHIKODE: The Kozhikode Corporation will launch its much-hyped project for the disposal of bio-degradable waste right at the source point on May 15. Corporation mayor A K Premajam will launch the scheme at Cheruvannur.

The civic body planned the project for disposal of waste at the source point after Kudumbashree units in certain wards stopped door-to-door collection of waste collection. It also failed miserably when it came to levying heavy fines on people who litter public places in its limit. It was after this that the civic body decided to find a lasting solution to the increasing waste menace.

Under the project, the civic body will set up 29,900 pipe compost units and 750 biogas and vermicompost units each in all 75 wards of the corporation. The civic body will implement the project at an estimated cost of Rs 4 crore. The Kerala State Sanitation Mission will aid the corporation in implementing the project. The mission has already allotted Rs 3 crore for the project. The civic body will provide Rs 75 lakh as subsidy from its planning fund for the bio-degradable waste disposal system and rest will be funded through contributions from beneficiaries.

The fixed rate to set up a pipe compost unit is Rs 850, for a vermicompost unit it is Rs 1,200 and Rs 8,500 for a biogas plant. 90% of the cost for setting up pipe compost and vermicompost units will be provided by the corporation. In the case of biogas plants, 75% of the amount will be subsidized.

Sabhas in each ward will monitor the implementation of the scheme. The civic body will also direct wedding halls, meat shops, hotels and other institutions to set up biogas plants. Kozhikode-based Socio Economic Unit Foundation (SEUF) and Palakkad-based Integrated Rural Technology Centre (IRTC) will be the project implementing agencies.

"Beneficiary just need to spent around Rs 85 to set up a pipe compost unit, Rs 120 for a vermi compost unit and Rs 2,125 for a biogas plant. We hope to bring down the volume of waste that is dumped at Njeliyanparamba trenching ground to 20 tonnes from the existing quantity of more than 60 tonnes," said health standing committee chairperson Janamma Kunjunni. "The scheme will be expanded to all households within the corporation limit in a phased manner. We hope to find a permanent solution to the existing waste management crisis," she said.