Indian Express 14.12.2009
Civic body gets its first shredder
After curtailing water supply to municipal gardens in the city, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has acquired Mumbai’s first tree shredding machine to reduce the evaporation of water from garden soil by covering it with saw dust.
Acquired from the USA at a cost of Rs.1.5 crore, the shredding machine can instantly break down wood into fine saw dust. “Each of the city’s 24 wards has an open area where fallen branches and wood waste is stored. These are small branches that cannot be utilised for other purposes. The shredding machine will convert these into wood shreds and saw dust that will also help these areas to remain clean,” assistant municipal commissioner Sunil Dhaamne said.
The acquisition comes after requests from citizens of ‘A’ ward to remove the wood from the open ground next to GD Somani School in Cuffe Parade. “In the past, there have been incidents of small fire breaking out in summer because of stored wood. Last year, the fire was quite big and its proximity to the school made us approach the BMC,” resident Sulaksha Chaugule said.
The BMC will use the sawdust in its garden by spreading it over the soil to reduce evaporation and prevent the growth of weed around plants and trees.
“The soil will retain water for a longer time and thus we will need less water for the gardens. Also, the woods shreds will gradually get converted in to manure over a period of time,” Dhaamne said. Called ‘mulching’, this practice is widespread in western countries, Dhaamne added.
The mobile machine will be moved around in all the 24 wards to clear the wood waste in each ward. The remainder of wood shreds after mulching is done will be used to convert into manure by burying it into pits on the ground.
