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Solid Waste Management

Youngsters come up with new technique to resolve waste menace

Thursday, 02 January 2014 05:57 administrator
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The Hindu              02.01.2014

Youngsters come up with new technique to resolve waste menace

Staff Reporter

A group of young marine engineers-turned-entrepreneurs have proposed a technique to address the issue of waste management in the Kottayam town. The idea is being floated by the group, consisting of Arun Subrahmaniam, Happy John, Ajeesh Isaac and Tom Joseph, who have established an enterprise, Litter Watt, which has been registered with the Kerala State Entrepreneur Development Mission (KSEDM) of the Kerala Financial Corporation.

They came up with the proposal against the backdrop of the Vadavathoor dumping yard issue. Speaking at a press conference, they said the wastes that have accumulated over the years in the yard could be used to produce landfill gas. The new waste particles could be converted into end products using cellular anaerobic digestion (CAD), a procedure designed by the group.

Organic fraction

As per the studies they had conducted, it was found that the garbage at the dumping yard has a high organic fraction of around 85 per cent. Moreover, the organic fraction has a moisture content of about 60-80 per cent. According to them, the CAD process involved facilitating the decay process in a controlled manner to accelerate its progress.

The moisture fraction in the waste particles could be collected as leachate and could be diverted to the processing plant for biogas production and then, to the post-treatment plant for conditioning and sterilisation before being fed to the ground.

They said the municipal waste, including plastic materials, could be filled into a container capable of storing up to 15 tonnes. After nearly 30 days, a major portion of the wastes could be converted into bio-methane and leachate. The residual particles, which will remain as low as 10 per cent of the total volume, could be used for land-filling, they said.

They added the biogas could be used as a replacement by restaurants and caterers instead of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). Moreover, while 1 kg of LPG costs around Rs.100, 1 kg of bio-methane could be marketed at a very competitive price of Rs.20, they proposed.

The cost

The group pointed out that the implementation of the scheme could be carried out on a plot of 1 acre and at a cost of Rs.3 crore.

 

BMC to Launch Pilot Project on Plastic Waste

Tuesday, 31 December 2013 10:00 administrator
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The New Indian Express               31.12.2013

BMC to Launch Pilot Project on Plastic Waste

The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) will begin collection of plastic waste from four Wards on pilot basis.

BMC is responsible for restricting the use of non-biodegradable plastic in the City. Even though its Environment Section had proposed to devise a new mechanism for plastic waste management, the proposal is yet to take off.

Instead, the Corporation has decided to launch collection of plastic waste in four Wards on a pilot basis and then spread its area.

Collection and segregation is the most important aspect of processing the plastic waste.

For this purpose, BMC has decided to ask the sanitation contractors, engaged in the Wards 22, 37, 43 and 46, to assist them. BMC Environment Officer BK Routray said the sanitation contractors will be asked to assist in the pilot project. Since the contractors collect the entire garbage of the City, segregating plastic waste will be feasible for them.

The contractors have been asked to provide manpower. The segregation of the waste will also be done by the sanitation workers. Initially, the plastic waste will be collected from Saheed Nagar, Ashok Nagar, Janpath and a few other prime localities. Based on the pilot project, the poject will be extended to other areas.

BMC is currently a part of the special committee constituted to tackle the problem of non-biodegradable plastic waste.

 The committee, set up by the State Government, has representatives from Odisha State Pollution Control Board (OSPCB).

The committee is scheduled to meet on January, after which the complete road map for plastic waste management will be drafted.

The Corporation is still trying to create awareness about the blanket ban on the usage of non-biodegradable polythene. But no major progress has been made so far.

The ongoing campaign for BMC elections will add to the woes since most of the candidates have decorated the entire city with their party symbols and flags made of plastic. BMC officials said the decision to ban plastic flags, pamphlets and posters has to be taken by the State Government.

 

2013: A 'Wasted' Year for City Corporation

Tuesday, 31 December 2013 07:56 administrator
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The New Indian Express               31.12.2013

2013: A 'Wasted' Year for City Corporation

While the year 2013 bids adieu, stocktaking throws up the same old stinking stories of the previous year with a few new additions.

The month of January 2013 opened with the City Corporation launching a new weapon from its arsenal to beat the ‘plastic monster.’ Mayor K Chandrika and team, irrespective of party and politics, unleashed a blitzkrieg in markets and shopping centres alike, seizing bulks of plastic carrybags to be transported away. The campaign brought about a sea change, with a lion’s share of vendors in the city switching to cloth bags. But it did not take much time for the initiative to sing the swan song. The campaign ended and things are now back to square one.

Giving new promises to tackle solid waste, as Vilappilsala gates remained padlocked for the second consecutive year, the government offered to set up decentralised waste treatment plants in the city. In place of the sole waste plant at Vilappilsala, four plants were announced, in every Assembly constituency in the city - Nemom, Vattiyoorkavu, Chalai and Kazhakkoottam.

Meetings were convened by Ministers in the presence of MLAs and representatives of local people and though the concern ‘’Not in My Backyard’’ was aired by many, the Ministers promised that the plants would come up. Now, when the year is coming to a close, this decentralised waste management move tops the list of non-starters.

The ‘much-promising’ mobile incinerator that came all the way from Gujarat said goodbye to the city in 2013. It ended up being a fuel-guzzling machine burning a hole in the pocket of the civic body. For months, it lay idle near the World Market at Anayara and the City Corporation that offered a red carpet welcome to the machine symbolically wrote its elegy also by placing wreaths on it.

The mobile incinerator was later rolled to Malappuram.

Taking a cue from the ‘successful’ landfilling done at Murukkumpuzha by constructing a railway platform, the Corporation tried to repeat the act at Chirayinkeezhu with people’s support.

However, the ground water pollution at Murukkumpuzha allegedly caused by the leakage from the garbage landfill brought the garbage transportation to Chirayinkeezhu to a standstill.

The hopes of setting up a waste treatment at Chalai ended when the government pleader told the High Court that the government did not wish to proceed with the plan further. The City Corporation’s announcement of setting up biogas plants and windrow composts in select locations also remains on paper.

 
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