The Hindu      19.02.2015    

Three biogas plants inaugurated at Thandalam

The biogas plant installed in the house of a beneficiary at Thandalam near Arakkonam.— Photo: C. Venkatachalapathy

Three biogas plants, installed with the help of the Thandalam Yogashema Trust (TYT) and technical assistance of the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU), were inaugurated in Thandalam, about 8 km from Arakkonam, on Wednesday.

The labour component of the installation of the plants was provided free of cost to beneficiaries K.S. Gopal, M. Balakrishnan and V. Rajagopal thanks to the construction of the plants by masons who underwent a 10-day training offered by TNAU in the village recently, according to S. Kamaraj, Head of the Department of Bio-Energy, TNAU, Coimbatore.

Mr. Gopal said he established a two-cubic meter biogas plant with the help of the trainee masons in December. He has three cows with which he was able to feed 25 kg of cow dung to the plant daily.

Mr. Balakrishnan has established a 4-cubic meter plant. With 20 cows, he is able to get 75 kg of cow dung to be fed to the plant daily.

Mr. Rajagopal has installed a 6-cubic meter plant. He too has 20 cows. “I get a steady supply of biogas from the plant,” he said.

Dr. Kamaraj said with these plants the beneficiaries would be able to save the cost of buying LPG for cooking. The 12 cubic meters of biogas, which they would be producing daily, was equivalent to 150 cylinders of LPG per annum. The manure in the form of slurry, which is a by-product of biogas, was equivalent to 30 bags of urea. They could also save on chemical fertilizers. They planned to take up vegetable cultivation by using the slurry as manure.

Radha Parthasarathy, Managing Trustee of TYT, said the establishment of the biogas plants was part of the rural development activities undertaken by the TYT with TNAU’s help as part of an MoU signed between the two institutions last year for imparting modern technology to farmers in the village.

The Trust hoped to expand its activities soon to the neighbouring Itchiputhur village whose president P. Gunapooshanam Palraj had evinced interest in the construction of hygienic individual toilets to eliminate open defecation.

The Hindu      19.02.2015 

Garbage disposal goes hi-tech

Deep collection bins for organic and inorganic waste being installed at Arcot Municipality for better solid waste management. —Photo: C. Venkatachalapathy

Soon, residents of Arcot Municipality will get to dispose household waste in sensor-fitted deep collection bins.

This underground waste management system is GPS-enabled and sends alert to specially-designed trucks when the waste reaches 90 per cent of the bin capacity.

With this technology from Latvia-based Green World Group (GWG), which is involved in developing eco-friendly waste management solutions, garbage disposal and collection is all set to go hi-tech in the municipality.

In fact, officials said that this was the first time that such a system was being implemented in India.

Latvia, Finland, Sweden, Germany, France and Norway have adopted this system of garbage disposal and collection.

The municipality generates nearly 25 tonnes of waste per day. Under this project, it plans to install deep collection bins in 60 places, mainly residential localities, in three phases. In the first phase, bins will be placed in 20 places.

The Rs.3-crore-project has been taken up under the Self Sufficiency Scheme.

Funds

“We are pooling Rs. 33 lakh as public share. Of this, Rs. 20 lakh has been handed over to the district administration. While Rs. 45 lakh is being provided from the MLA fund, Arakkonam MP G. Hari has allotted Rs. 15 lakh from MP Local Area Development Scheme,” Arcot MLA R. Srinivasan said.

3 colour-coded bins

Three colour-coded bins – green for degradable waste, blue for plastics and yellow for dry waste - will be installed at identified spots. Only 40 per cent of each bin is placed above the surface level, while the remaining is underground.

There will be one large bin of three tonne capacity and two smaller ones 1.3 tonnes capacity each, said Gokulkrishnan J., director-Technical Supports and Operation, EcoGarb, which is a partner of GWG and is implementing the project. Representatives from GWG and EcoGarb were on a visit to Arcot last week.

Bags of durable materials

The bins that are made of linear low-density polyethylene contain lifting bags made of durable materials in which the waste is kept.

As of now, two specially-designed trucks are being readied for removing waste from the bins, he said, adding, “The driver will receive information through GPS when the waste reaches 90 per cent of bin capacity. The truck has a compactor and crane. The crane will lift the bag and empty it.”

This will be networked to a central monitoring system at the municipality office. Cameras will also be installed at the spots.

This system will pave way for an odour-free environment. “We are also installing solar-powered lights at these spots so that it is properly lit,” R. Purushotaman, chairman of the municipality said.

To start with, the bins have been installed at Devi Nagar First Cross (ward no 3) and Vellore Main Road (ward 14).

Officials said they will create awareness among the public on primary segregation of garbage and disposal into these bins.

Mr. Srinivasan further said that sthey are planning to deploy one women SHG member at each of the locations to inform the public for at least a month.

Once all the bins are put in place, the municipality might also do away with the regular garbage bins, officials said.

The newsystem is GPS-enabled and sends alert to specially-designed trucks when waste reaches 90 per cent of the bin capacity