The Hindu               14.08.2013

Waste-to-energy project in Coimbatore soon

In its effort to find a solution to the problem of waste accumulating at the Vellalore dump yard, the Coimbatore Corporation has planned to establish a waste-to-energy plant.

According to Commissioner G. Latha, the civic body was in the very initial stages of the project in that it was readying a proposal to engage a consultant to prepare a detailed project report. The consultant would take at least a couple of months to study the solid waste management programme before coming out with a proposal to implement the waste-to-energy project.

Based on the recommendation, the Corporation would call for expression of interest from companies with expertise in setting up waste-to-energy plant.

The entire process could take more than a year, Ms. Latha said and added that the Corporation was hopeful of completing the project by the end of 2014. But the process had begun. The Corporation would have a consultant by the month end and the detailed project report in another three.

The Coimbatore Corporation planned to set up the waste-to-energy plant to burn around 400 tonnes waste a day. The Corporation at present collected around 800 tonnes a day.

The concessionaire struggled to process the waste in that he was unable to segregate the waste, prepare compost from the bio-degradable waste, recycle the non-degradable waste and safely dump the reject waste.

The Corporation on its part was trying its best to segregate the waste at the door-to-door collection stage. But it had not been as successful as it wanted it to be. As a result, the civic body had been sending mixed waste to the Vellalore dump yard. Commissioner Ms. Latha said that to start with the Corporation planned to have a 400 tonne-capacity plant. But it wanted the option of increasing the capacity. The civic body’s decision go in for the plant comes after officials visited Pune, Nagpur and a few other cities where such projects had been successful. Meanwhile, the Corporation planned to complete its bin-management project in the next few days. The Commissioner said that the process of numbering the bins would be complete in the next week. The mobile phone application for sanitary supervisors was also ready. After a formal launch, the supervisors would be on their toes emptying bins at the scheduled date and time. There would be no let up on this front.

She welcomed the residents’ participation in the project by asking them to message the number on the bin if the waste was not removed as per schedule.

Proposal to engage a consultant to prepare a detailed project report getting ready.