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Solid Waste Management

Corporation to number bins to improve waste collection in city

Monday, 22 April 2013 08:14 administrator
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The Hindu                   22.04.2013

Corporation to number bins to improve waste collection in city

Officials to conduct a city-wide survey to study bin placement.

The Coimbatore Corporation will soon start numbering bins on roads to improve waste collection.

According to sources, each of the 3,400-odd bins will have a number and details like the street or locality where it is placed.

This will help the Corporation to keep track of when the bins were last cleaned, whether they were cleaned at the right time, if the bins were without damage and also whether they served the purpose in that if they were adequate to accommodate all the waste generated at houses and commercial establishments in the vicinity.

The Corporation will also know how much bins it was short of, to have an efficient collection system.

The decision to number the bins and furnish the details comes after Commissioner G. Latha conducted a meeting with officials managing the solid waste management programme. The city generates around 800 tonnes waste a day.

The Commissioner had asked officials to conduct a citywide survey to study the placement of bins, and if they were the right bins for the area chosen.

Pattern

The sanitary supervisors and inspectors studied the waste generation pattern and also noted down the bin quantity in their jurisdiction.

Commissioner Ms. Latha says that after the report is ready, the Corporation will decide on the next course of action. The report is likely to be ready in the next couple of days.

 

Residents go separate ways to keep streets free of garbage

Friday, 19 April 2013 11:50 administrator
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The Times of India               19.04.2013

Residents go separate ways to keep streets free of garbage

CHENNAI: The corporation's waste segregation initiatives may have failed in the past but now groups of residents across 60 wards are silently turning over a new leaf and segregating waste at source.

The result: About 200 streets look spic and span. Nearly 300 residents of Rajeswari Avenue Apartment at Mugalivakkam segregate the garbage they generate into wet and dry waste. The civic body ran an awareness programme for residents and distributed two bins to each household, one for dry waste and the other for wet. The corporation uses plastic waste to lay roads and plans to generate electricity for street lights from wet waste.

Corporation officials said they plan to introduce source segregation of waste in more wards in a couple of weeks. A senior corporation official said: "We have selected a few wards in each of the 15 zones. We add a few wards to the scheme every week."

So, how did it click in these localities? "To start with, we selected places with relatively more educated residents," said an official. The corporation convinced some residential associations to take up source segregation and, when the results were showing, more associations came forward to join the programme. "A clean street is a good incentive, they realised," the official said.

Residents are happy. J Raman of Rajeswari Avenue Apartment Residents' Association said: "We have plans to generate electricity and manure from the wet waste. We could use electricity for street lights and the manure for trees."

Corporation officials said they had conducted public meetings with residents. "Only if people are involved will this be a success. We are willing to provide assistance if any residents' association comes forward," said an official.

The city generates at least 4,600 tonnes of garbage a day. An ordinary household generates 25% recyclable waste, 60% organic waste and 10% hazardous waste. At least 30% of the garbage is dumped in drains, choking them during the monsoon. Many vacant plots and pavements have become unofficial dump yards. Source segregation will reduce the amount of garbage to be disposed off and the city will look cleaner.

Experts suggested that conservancy workers be taught to distinguish between dry and wet waste. Officials said they are planning to distribute pamphlets across the city.

"It is necessary to enforce segregation at source and reduce the load on the civic body and landfills. Source segregation is a slow process and cannot be done overnight. It will take 18 to 20 months to implement it completely," said Dharmesh Shah of Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives.
Last Updated on Friday, 19 April 2013 11:56
 

Chennai Corporation seeks proposals from BARC

Thursday, 18 April 2013 05:31 administrator
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The Hindu                       18.04.2013

Chennai Corporation seeks proposals from BARC

P.V.V. Murthi

For installing bio-methanation plants to produce energy from waste.

Chennai Corporation has sought proposals from the Mumbai-based Bhaba Atomic Research Centre (BARC) for installing and implementing bio-methanation plants for production of energy from biodegradable wastes as pilot plants in three places, according to J. Daniel Chellappa, Senior Scientist, Technical Coordination Wing, BARC, Chennai.

He was talking to The Hindu on the sidelines of PRAGYAN 2013, a national-level technical symposium organised by the Science and Humanities Association of the Thanthai Periyar Government Institute of Technology (TPGIT) on the TPGIT campus here on Wednesday. Mr. Chellappa said that ever since the BARC developed and implemented the bio-methanation technology for conversion of biodegradable wastes into energy and achieving scientific solid waste management (SWM) in the BARC Residential Township in Mumbai in 2002, it has transferred the technology to 100 companies and the technology is being used successfully in 150 places throughout the country.

The places where the technology is being used included government offices such as the Delhi Secretariat, local bodies and educational institutions.

Earlier inaugurating the symposium, Mr. Chellappa said that one could get two cylinders of biogas from one tonne of biodegradable garbage, while each tonne of garbage produces 50 kg of natural manure.

The Chennai Corporation was generating about 5,000 tonnes of garbage every day of which 35 per cent was biodegradable. Converting the waste into natural manure would fetch good revenue to the Corporation and also help in enriching the soil in agricultural lands of those who use the manure.

Mr. Chellappa said that disposal of e-wastes such as batteries of cell phones in the environment might contaminate groundwater. Unfortunately, in India e-waste is considered as any other waste and disposed of in the same way biodegradable wastes are disposed of or dumped in the environment.

Vegetable wastes and slaughter house wastes are also dumped in the environment leading to pig menace and mosquito menace. M. Arularasu, Principal, TPGIT, who presided, said that TPGIT has received a grant of Rs. 2.59 crore from the government. Of this, Rs. two crore has been allotted for the construction of the hostel building. Of the remaining Rs. 59 lakh, a sum of Rs. seven lakh has been given to the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Rs. 14 lakh to the Department of Civil Engineering, and Rs. 19 lakh to the Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering. A sum of Rs. 50 lakh was received last year for smart classrooms, he said.

Mr. Chellappa released the symposium souvenir. K. Muthukumaran, professor and Head of the Department of Science and Humanities, TPGIT, explained the proceedings of the symposium. P. Manivel, associate professor of chemistry, introduced the chief guest.

J. Rex Martin Sahayaraj, associate professor of mathematics, welcomed the gathering. N. Kalaivasan, symposium coordinator, proposed a vote of thanks.

 
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