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Solid Waste Management

Municipality tests alternative methods to solve waste menace

Saturday, 04 January 2014 06:05 administrator
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The Hindu               04.01.2014

Municipality tests alternative methods to solve waste menace

Staff Reporter

Warns against littering town; refuse being buried in landfills

With no end in sight to the Vadavathoor dumping yard issue, the Kottayam Municipality has adopted alternative measures to contain the problem of garbage accumulation in the town.

The local body has formed squads to check littering in public places. Municipal authorities have cautioned that strict action will be taken against those dumping garbage at undesignated points. In addition, the municipality has also commenced burning of wastes such as paper and related articles in a bid to reduce the severity of the problem. However, the action of the municipality is creating inconvenience for local residents.

The success of the newly adopted measures depends on the cooperation of residents. Wastes are also being buried in landfills as a temporary solution. The municipal authorities have sought the intervention of the State government to resolve the Vadavathoor issue. Municipal chairman M.P. Santhosh Kumar met Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and Transport Minister and local MLA Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan on Thursday to convey the seriousness of the problem. Urban Affairs Minister Manjalamkuzhy Ali has also been informed of the situation in a complaint, according to Mr. Kumar. District Collector Ajit Kumar also submitted a report on behalf of the district administration to the government on Friday.

According to the municipal chairman, the local body has done all it could within a short duration of six months to reduce the amount of wastes transported to the dumping yard. The daily volume of wastes generated has been brought down from 30 tonnes to five tonnes. While several measures including obtaining biogas plants have been initiated, many of them could not be implemented because of procedural delays.

Central funds

He also said the municipality was likely to get Central funds under the Urban Infrastructure Development for Small and Medium Towns (UDISSMT) scheme for two projects soon. It would be provided Rs.180 crore for a comprehensive water supply scheme and Rs.18.66 crore for a solid waste management project.

Meanwhile, the municipal authorities are also pursuing other options being proposed by voluntary organisations and commercial establishments. Currently, cellular anaerobic digestion (CAD), a method designed by ‘Litter Watt’, an enterprise registered with the KSEDM of the Kerala Financial Corporation, is being tested. For this, around 15 tonnes of wastes have been stored in a container. As claimed by the entrepreneurs, the wastes will be converted into biogas and leachate after a period of 20-30 days.

 

RMC to hire A2Z employees

Friday, 03 January 2014 10:21 administrator
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The Pioneer              03.01.2014

RMC to hire A2Z employees

In a marked shift in its policy on waste management, the Ranchi Municipal Corporation has now decided to take control of solid waste management system in the city, ruling out any possibility of agreement with the agencies empanelled to replace A2Z, the solid waste management company.

Under the new system, the municipal body will supervise solid waste management through ward councilors who will monitor supervisors and labourers in their respective wards.  Interestingly, the municipal body also decided to hire the supervisors and labourers earlier working for A2Z on “humanitarian” ground.  

“They would have become jobless. We thought that since they are local people it is good to hire them. We will see that they get what they were getting earlier,” said RMC CEO Manoj Kumar. According to sources, the municipal body has asked all supervisors working for A2Z to appear in person at the RMC’s office to help it draw a detailed plan for solid waste management.

The new system put in place by RMC will be implemented in two to three days time as the corporation has still not taken assets incidentally pressed into service by A2Z.  The RMC had asked the A2Z to handover all assets which were bought from funds provided under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). The A2Z was directed to handover assets after its contract with the RMC was terminated in the month of November 2013.

“They have handed over few assets. I can assure you that in two to three days everything will be back on track,” maintained Kumar. Significantly, the RMC is studying waste management systems being followed elsewhere to find an effective and lasting solution to city’s solid waste management issues. Officials of the RMC have been sent to Hydrabad to study the solid waste management plans being followed there.

“We will float a global tender however it will take some time. We would first study the best system that can be implemented here,” concluded the RMC CEO.

 

260 Biogas Plants in Schools

Friday, 03 January 2014 09:07 administrator
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The New Indian Express              03.01.2014

260 Biogas Plants in Schools

Around 260 schools in Thiruvananthapuram will soon be equipped with biogasplants enabling them to become self-sufficient in organic waste disposal. This is as part of the state-level scheme of the Department of Agriculture to set up biogas plants in 4,000 schools across Kerala which was inaugurated here on Wednesday by Chief Minister Oommen Chandy.

 The 260 schools in the capital district to benefit from the scheme have been divided into three categories. In the first, 20 lower primary schools will get small biogas plants (0.5 m3) which cost `13,000. Next,90 upper primary schools would get slightly bigger plants (o.75 m3) costing ` 17,500. The remaining 150 are high schools where biogas plants of 1 m3 volume and costing ` 23,500 would be set up.

 As the scheme gets underway, it would cover  selected primary, upper primary and high schools (government and aided). There are two major goals for setting up these biogas plants - the first is to make provisions for treating organic waste at the source itself. The second, by default, is to promote vegetable cultivation in schools. (The Agriculture Department already has an integrated vegetable cultivation promotion scheme in place, in which schools form an important component. Around 1,500 schools in Kerala were selected in the second phase, started in July 2013, for starting vegetable gardens. Also around 50 lakh vegetable seed kits were distributed to students across the state.)

 The idea is to produce a sustainable cycle in schools - the biogas produced would be used in the school kitchen while the slurry got as byproduct could be used as organic manure for the vegetable garden of the students. The vegetables in turn would go into the meals prepared in the school kitchen.

 The biogas plant scheme, which is being implemented with the help of the Education Department, will be put in place in schools selected by the respective district educational officers. The Agriculture Department is investing around ` 8 crore in this scheme, said a note issued by the department.

 
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