The Hindu               18.12.2013

7 biogas plants for waste treatment in Attingal

Rajesh B. Nair

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.

The Times of India               14.12.2013

Kannur to get rid of plastic waste soon

KANNUR: The Kannur municipality is launching a new project, Susthira-2014, to make the municipality plastic waste free within one month.

"We know that we cannot make the place plastic free by just banning it, because such moves have never succeeded in any part of the country, and hence we are launching a programme to collect the plastic and use it for recycling with the support of the residents as well as business community," said municipal chairperson Roshni Khalid at a press conference on Friday.

Under Susthira-2014, launched with the support of KISAN, an organization to promote agriculture and preserve the municipality, Kannur will be declared plastic free by January 26, 2014.

And in the next phase the municipality will be made waste-free by implementing schemes to process the waste at the source itself.

"Since no project can succeed without people's participation, we will sensitize the people and collection centres will be set up in different places to collect the plastic waste that will be sent to recycling units," she said.

Though the plastic carry bags below 40-micron thickness are banned in the state, such bags are still in use and all the shops will be asked to ensure that such bags are not used in the coming days, as these bags cannot be recycled.

The traders have promised that such bags will not be in use from January 1, said the chairperson, who added that the resource persons are being trained for the success of the scheme. In order to reduce the use of plastic, alternative materials like cotton bags will also be made available.

In the second phase the disposal of the wastes at the source will be promoted so that the wastes dumped in the trenching ground will be reduced to a minimum, said municipal vice-chairman T O Mohanan.

"Our aim is to make the municipality waste free through people's participation and not just a declaration; the very concept of Susthira has been formulated on the basis of that philosophy only," he said.