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Solid Waste Management

Make money by selling garbage

Tuesday, 19 January 2010 08:56 administrator
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The New Indian Express 19.01.2010

Make money by selling garbage

Shibu B S


KOCHI: 9 am. That’s the time the volunteers of team WoW begin their day in an effort to fight against waste menace.

When team expresso reached the WoW hub near Thammanam the supervisor and a contingency staff along with the manager of the project, Royce, were about to start their battle for waste recovery. And we joined them and found out that Kochiites have started earning a few bucks by selling the garbage generated from their households.

“Thanks to the Wealth out of Waste project which helps not only in disposing of the garbage but also to get a reasonable price for the waste,” said A N Unni, resident, Ambelippadam Road.

Wealth out of Waste (WoW) project launched in two divisions of the Corporation is receiving positive response from the residents. It was launched by Sree Sakthi Papers Ltd in association with the ITC Ltd and the Kochi Corporation and is expected to go a long way in waste disposal, both bio-degradable and non-bio-degradable.

The project envisages doorto- door collection of waste including newspapers, waste papers, plastic products like empty milk packets, bottles, empty tooth paste tubes and used tooth brushes, besides metallic waste. On the day we joined them the WoW members went to several households on Ambelippadam Road and collected waste by making payments.

The price for waste paper is Rs 4 per kg, while plastic and metal waste will fetch Rs 2.50 a kg. The supervisor marked the house number, quantity, price in his ledger and made the payment.

“We have launched the programme in ward 41 and 53. It will be extended to all the 71 divisions under the Corporation within three months,” said A Padmanabhan, director (operations) Sree Sakthi.

A carry bag with three chambers has been given to each household through various residents associations for collecting waste. Plastic bags that contain organic waste are cleaned and kept in separate chambers.

The WoW team will visit each household every 20 days to collect waste.

“The waste collected from households will be transported to WoW hubs. Six divisions will have one WoW hub to sort the garbage. A total of 12 WoW hubs will be opened in the city from where waste materials will be transported to recycling factories of Sree Sakthi and ITC,” Padmanabhan added. The programme will be extended to Thiruvananthapuram, Thrissur, Kozhikode and Kollam Corporations within a year. “We are planning to cover the entire state within two years. It will help to generate direct employment to nearly 10,000 people, he said.

Many projects envisaged by the Corporation for effective management and collection of waste materials had failed to attain the specific goal.

But with effective participation from two private sector companies, this project brightens the hope for a cleaner and greener Kochi.

The eco-friendly aspect of the project is another attraction as it focuses on recycling. The industry requirement of paper comes to about nine million tonnes per year. For producing one tonne paper 22 trees have to be axed. Only 15 percent of paper is being recycled in our country while in developed countries 50 to 60 percent of paper is produced by recycling.

“Our aim is to bridge this waste recovery process considerably,” added Padmanabhan. They are planning to introduce toll-free numbers soon for the public for effective waste management.

Last Updated on Tuesday, 19 January 2010 08:59
 

Waste management project gets nod

Monday, 18 January 2010 10:33 administrator
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The Times of India 18.01.2010

Waste management project gets nod

TNN, 18 January 2010, 06:01am IST

HYDERABAD: After months of wait and several controversies, the municipal administration and urban development (MA&UD) department has finally decided to give a go ahead to the Integrated Solid Waste Management (ISWM) project which was on hold for the last six months.

The state government has issued a memo permitting project developer Ramky to take up works at Jawaharnagar dumping yard and abandoned dump yards at Fathullaguda, Gandhamguda and Shamshiguda for reclamation and alternate use. The Rs 434-crore solid waste management project is being taken up by the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation under Public-Private Partnership (PPP) mode. Though the Ramky group and GHMC entered into an agreement a year ago, the project implementation was kept in abeyance due to objections and concerns raised by municipal workers' unions.

The GHMC unions were opposing the handing over of collection and transportation of garbage to Ramky. The employee unions even went on strike and stopped sanitation works for a few days in July 2009 forcing the state government to keep the agreement on hold. After holding consultations with union leaders, the MA&UD department has issued a memo recently permitting pre-construction works.

Full-fledged works at the dumping yards for land filling including collection and transportation of garbage will begin in the next three months, GHMC additional commissioner (health and sanitation) Aleem Basha told TOI on Saturday. The state government has also agreed to provide funds and bear the project cost (including Centre's contribution) if the central government does not allocate funds for the project under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM).

The Centre had earlier refused to release its share of Rs 152 crore under JNNURM on the grounds that the state had already exhausted its allocation for seven years apart from additional allocation of Rs 100 crore as per the Planning Commission's directive.

In view of this, the state government has agreed to bail out the GHMC by giving funds. The Centre is expected to release Rs 50,000 crore additional allocations to various states in August this year and the state expects allocations for solid waste management project at that time, Aleem Basha said.

The ISWM project is being taken up to dispose of the solid waste in a scientific way. The project involves development of five new garbage transfer stations, operation and maintenance of transfer stations, transportation from transfer stations to the designated treatment and disposal facilities, treatment and disposal, including development of four integrated waste management facilities in line with the Municipal Solid Waste (Handling and Management) Rules 2000, and reclamation and reuse of the existing dump sites for the solid waste management project.

The project was awarded to Ramky Enviro Engineers Ltd in February 2009 and subsequently it entered into an agreement with the municipal corporation for collection, transportation and reclamation of garbage generated in Greater Hyderabad. For this, the GHMC would pay Rs 1431 per ton of garbage.

For effective implementation of the project, the GHMC has begun the process of appointing an independent engineer. After completing the Request for Qualification (RFQ) process, two firms got qualified and these two firms were given Request for Proposal (RFP). The selection process is expected to be completed in a month, officials said.
 

Functioning of waste treatment plant affected

Monday, 18 January 2010 01:31 administrator
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The Hindu 18.01.2010

Functioning of waste treatment plant affected

Staff Reporter

Floor of room with installed machinery sinks

 

Plant functions at intervals and during day time only

KITCO’s help likely to be sought for rectification works

KOCHI: The functioning of the Brahmapuram solid waste treatment plant of the Kochi Corporation has been affected due to the sinking of the floor where the machinery was installed.

With its floor sinking, the garbage processing capacity of the plant has been reduced considerably. It now functions only at intervals and the plant is not operated during night hours.

“Presently, we are not in a position to operate the plant round the clock,” said Mercy Williams, Kochi Mayor.

The civic body and the Andhra Pradesh Technology Development Corporation, which installed the plant, had crossed swords regarding the quality of work at the plant. Many areas of the floor of the plant had developed cracks. Some areas sank shortly after the commissioning of the plant.

The corporation is planning to seek the assistance of agencies like KITCO for carrying out the rectification works. The officials of the agency, along with the corporation officials, had inspected the plant site last week. The civic authority is hopeful that the agency would support the corporation in implementing the rectification works, Ms. Williams said.

Meanwhile, the civic body has asked its engineering wing to consider the option of carrying out the levelling of the floor and strengthening it after dismantling the machinery. The machinery will be re-installed after completing the floor rectification works. The step is being considered, as the KITCO is yet to convey its decision regarding the repair works. The option of implementing the works using its own team of engineers is also being considered by the civic body.

The corporation has not yet made up its mind regarding the selection of agency for running the plant. The civic administrators are of the view that the task of running the plant should be assigned to an external agency which has prior experience in managing such units, she said.

A decision on the selling of organic manure produced at the plant to the public sector company FACT will soon be taken. The proposal will be sent for obtaining legal opinion on Monday. The FACT had earlier agreed to purchase the manure for meeting its commitment to market organic manure.

Private agencies have also come forward for purchasing the manure, said Ms. Williams.

Last Updated on Monday, 18 January 2010 01:33
 
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