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Solid Waste Management

Practical solution sought to manage solid waste in cities

Tuesday, 31 July 2012 06:34 administrator
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The Hindu    31.07.2012

Practical solution sought to manage solid waste in cities

Special Correspondent

 Union Minister of State for Urban Development Saugata Roy has stressed the importance of devising a practical solution for the management of solid waste in urban areas by harnessing or developing appropriate technology.

Delivering the inaugural address at the 3rd International Conference on Solid Waste Management on the Infosys campus here on Monday, he said there was not one workable technology to address the issue of solid waste management in urban areas though it was among the major challenges confronting the country.

The three-day conference has been jointly organised by the Mysore City Corporation (MCC), the International Society of Waste Management, Air and Water, and the Centre for Quality Management System, Jadhavpur University, Kolkata.

The Minister said scientific conferences such as these should be a forum for experts to discuss new ideas and develop new technologies, rather than only publishing research papers.

A grim picture

Underlining the importance of harnessing advanced but practical technology for management of urban solid waste, Mr. Roy painted a grim picture of the future in in urban areas as a result of the population growth and rapid urbanisation.

“The total urban population of the country, which stands at 377 million, is projected to grow to nearly 600 million by 2030, and nearly 50 per cent of the country’s total population will be in urban areas by 2050. This will have a tremendous bearing on solid waste management in the country,” said Mr. Roy.

He pointed out that urban India generated around 1.5 lakh tonnes of solid waste a day.But, per capita waste generation was expected to go up from 3.5 per cent to 5 per cent by 2030. Handling and disposal of solid waste was emerging as a major issue for policymakers, and the government should take it up on priority, he added.

‘Urban India generates around 1.5 lakh tonnes of solid waste a day’

‘There is not a single green city in the country that meets the criterion of no open defecation’

 

Deonar dumping ground nearly full, BMC to ready Kanjurmarg by Dec

Monday, 30 July 2012 11:26 administrator
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The Indian Express   30.07.2012

Deonar dumping ground nearly full, BMC to ready Kanjurmarg by Dec

 With the rapidly reducing space in Deonar dumping ground expected to force its closure in the next six months, the civic administration has decided to make the Kanjurmarg dumping ground fully operational 15 months earlier than planned.

Faced with a dilemma of where to dispose of 6,500 tonnes of garbage generated in Mumbai daily, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has set a new deadline — December — to partially close the Deonar dumping ground. This means the civic body will have to make the Kanjurmag dumping ground fully operational by December-end to accommodate the waste diverted from Deonar, the city’s largest landfill site. At present, Kanjurmarg dumping ground can accommodate only around 500 tonnes of waste daily.

While the civic administration claims it will ready the Kanjurmarg dumping ground for a capacity of 4,000 tonnes of waste daily, the operators claim there is a delay in transferring the lease of the land from the state, leading to a difficulty in financing the project. “The state government has not yet transferred the lease of the land of the dumping ground to us. The financial institutions are not giving us funding due to lack of proper lease agreement leading to delay in the completion of the project,” said Siju Antony, director, M/s Anthony Lara Envriotech Ltd, which has been appointed operators for the Kanjurmarg dumping ground.

“Although it has been difficult for us to operate the project, we have moved our earlier deadline of March 2014 to December 2012 so that we can accept an additional 3,500 tonnes of waste in the dumping ground everyday,” said Anthony. S G Chitale, chief engineer, Solid Waste Management, said, “There is no major hurdle in the completion of the Kanjurmarg dumping ground. We will ensure that the Deonar dumping ground which has already reached full capacity is closed by December-end. The BMC will also ensure that the Kanjurmarg facility is ready by the same time.”

 

Few enthusiasts for decentralised waste management in district

Saturday, 28 July 2012 05:53 administrator
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The Hindu     28.07.2012

Few enthusiasts for decentralised waste management in district

Shyama Rajagopal

Disgusting menace:Kochiites are forced to burn plastic waste thanks to the failure of the authorities to set up a proper facility to recycle non-degradable waste in the city.— Photo:Vipin Chandran
 
Disgusting menace:Kochiites are forced to burn plastic waste thanks to the failure of the authorities to set up a proper facility to recycle non-degradable waste in the city.— Photo:Vipin Chandran

There seem to be few takers for waste management in the local bodies as only Nedumbassery panchayat has so far submitted a plan for waste management to the District Suchitwa Mission, even though the projects are heavily subsidised.

Even as waste management issues are worsening across the State, the local bodies are in no haste to adopt these measures in the district. According to the District Officer of the Suchitwa Mission, the projects would take time to reach the implementing stage. The local bodies need to go through a procedure that would take months, he said.

Except for Maradu Municipality that has a tie up with a private party to collect plastic waste, no local body has started a proper plastic collection system. Tripunithura Municipality had bought a unit using the last Plan funds but the functioning of the unit that has a capacity to process 250 kgs of plastic for eight hours a day has not been regularised. Municipal chairman R. Venugopal said that awareness on disposing plastic and its collection will be taken up soon.

Thrikkakara municipality also has a shredding unit but the collection is not thorough, said the Municipal secretary.

Every household generates plastic waste as it is the major packing material. It continues to mix with other organic waste and is either burnt it with paper or buried with other organic waste creating an environmental hazard involving both air and land pollution. No plastic shredding unit has been provided through the Suchitwa Mission to any agency so far though the government subsidy is 80 per cent of the project cost.

In the case of setting up biogas plants, the Corporation has taken a step by submitting projects for 54 schools and 6 colleges for either biogas plants or vermicomposting. Eloor Municipality will be setting up two biogas plants of varying capacities.

Till the last financial year, only 10 out of the 84 panchayats had taken up any project in waste management and most of them were small projects. Only the Paravur Municipality had taken up a common project costing Rs. 68 lakh.

Perumbavur Municipal chairman K.M. Abdul Salam believes that a common waste treatment plant can be an only solution. The decentralised system is a non-starter, he said. However, concerted efforts to create awareness have brought down the waste collection in the town from 15 tonnes a day to 3-5 tonnes a day.

Earlier, only BPL people were given subsidy to adopt projects through the Suchitwa Mission. However, now all people can avail the subsidy to set up a project. The numbers of service providers’ list under the Suchitwa Mission have also risen from 18 to 60 agencies. Now people can choose what is more suitable from a wider variety, said P.K. Alexander, District Officer of the Suchitwa Mission. He said that creating awareness is a slow process and people need to change attitude towards adopting better waste management processes.

 
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