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Solid Waste Management

Hazardous wastes accumulate along roadsides at Choolai

Thursday, 19 July 2012 10:11 administrator
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The Hindu        19.07.2012

Hazardous wastes accumulate along roadsides at Choolai

S. Ramesh

A threat to health, environment

Solid waste from textile processing and tannery units dumped on the roadside in Choolai in Erode.– PHOTO: M. GOVARTAHN
Solid waste from textile processing and tannery units dumped on the roadside in Choolai in Erode.– PHOTO: M. GOVARTAHN

The indiscriminate act of dumping hazardous solid waste on the roadsides has commenced once again in Erode town and its suburbs.

More than 50 bags of sludge from the textile processing and tannery units have been dumped in Choolai, a thickly populated residential colony in Erode town on Wednesday.

Though the activity had been going on, on the sly, for years in different parts of the district, the units had stopped the dumping for a brief period as the officials in the revenue department and Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) stepped up the vigilance.

But a few units resumed the activity as the administration and the board were not paying much attention on the textile processing and tannery industries these days. Residents in Choolai reported about the dumping of sludge to the officials in TNPCB and the district administration and asked them to initiate stern action against the perpetrators.

Sources say that the processing units should dispose the sludge, which comes out as a solid waste after treating the effluents, safely in scientific landfill sites. The dumping of sludge in the open is against the pollution control rules, they point out.

A few textile processing and tannery units in the district often resort to the practice of dumping sludge on the roadsides as they lack facilities to dispose the waste scientifically. As a good amount money has to be spent for hiring the services of private firms for the safe disposal of sludge, the units find the dumping on the roadsides as a cheaper alternative.

The mindless dumping poses serious threat to the environment and the public health. The sludge remains for months together on the roadsides as the local administration does not have the facility to handle the sludge safely.

The district administration should find out those who have dumped the sludge on the roadside and initiate stern action against them, residents demand.

In a response to the demand, officials said that they would look into the issue and take steps to prevent the industrial units from dumping the sludge on the roadsides.

 

Capping of accumulated garbage begins

Friday, 15 June 2012 06:41 administrator
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The Hindu        15.06.2012

Capping of accumulated garbage begins

K.V. Prasad

It will end the problems faced by residents of Kurichi, Vellalore: Coimbatore Corporation

some relief:Scientific closure of the old dumpsites at the Vellalore Compost Yard began on Thursday.– Photo: K. Ananthan
some relief:Scientific closure of the old dumpsites at the Vellalore Compost Yard began on Thursday.– Photo: K. Ananthan

By starting a process of scientific closure of accumulated municipal solid waste, the Coimbatore Corporation sought to provide on Thursday a sign of relief for residents in more than 15 colonies around its compost yard at Vellalore.

These colonies had been exposed to health hazards for close to a decade because of flies from the dump yard and smoke from burning garbage invading their houses.

The Rs. 12.56 crore scientific closure or capping that began on Thursday is one of the components of the Corporation's Rs. 96.5 crore Integrated Municipal Solid Waste Management Project. This is being implemented under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission. The other methods of waste disposal at the yard are turning bio-degradable garbage into manure and burying deep the non-biodegradable ones in landfills. As for the colonies that formed the Kurichi-Vellalore Pollution Prevention Action Committee (KVPPAC) to demand the shifting of the yard, the relief will not come immediately. It will take four months for the Corporation and the private party it has tied up with to complete the capping.

Totally, 8.86 tonnes of garbage lies accumulated across the 300-acre yard. Officials explained that the immediate task was to bring all these waste to a 17-acre site earmarked for the closure. This work alone would take one to one-and-a-half months.

While landfill involved digging a vast, deep pit, the capping would be just the opposite.

Waste would be piled up in two blocks, of a height of nearly 25 ft each. These will be compacted to eliminate any loose portions from coming off. A 200 mm layer of gravel would be laid on these and over this a 600 mm layer of clay to prevent water from seeping in. Another topping of 150 mm gravel would be provided and then a layer of non-woven geo-textile. Finally, a 300 mm natural soil would form the topmost layer, in order to create a green space.

When fully capped, the two sections would resemble inverted boats. Rain falling on these would flow down the slopes into a drainage that would be provided around the 17-acre site.

The Corporation said it would strain every sinew to make up for lost time. Commissioner T.K. Ponnuswamy ordered that more workers, vehicles, and equipment should be put into this work so that there would not be any further loss of time.

The closure project was originally planned for garbage yards at Kavundampalayam, Ondipudur and Vellalore. The work had been completed in the first two sites.

The work in Vellalore ran into ligitation. The residents' committee moved the High Court in 2004 for an order that no waste management project should come up at this yard.

The court directed the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board to hear both sides (the residents and the Corporation) and dispose of the case. After the hearing, the board gave the clearance in March 2011. By then 5.5 lakh tonnes of additional garbage had accumulated, over the 3.36 lakh tonnes that was estimated to be capped in 2008. The litigation had stopped the process of turning waste into manure. This, in turn, led to the accumulation of the waste in the open yard.

Alive to the resentment among the residents, the officials said that hereafter the waste brought to the yard every day would be disposed of the same day through landfill, recycling or composting (turning into manure).

Secretary of the action committee K.S. Mohan was sceptical of the efficacy of the project. “Actually, we are certain that our problem will not be solved with whatever the Corporation does now. The threat of pollution will be eliminated only if the scheme is shifted out of this yard.”

 

Chennai Corporation to power up waste utilisation

Tuesday, 13 December 2011 04:56 administrator
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The Hindu          13.12.2011

Chennai Corporation to power up waste utilisation

Staff Reporter
Environment Minister B.V.Ramana looking at photographs on display at the TNPCB head office in Chennai on Monday. — Photo: R. Shivaji Rao
Environment Minister B.V.Ramana looking at photographs on display at the TNPCB head office in Chennai on Monday. — Photo: R. Shivaji Rao

The Chennai Corporation proposes to produce power from waste at its Perungudi and Kodungaiyur dump yards. Besides power generation, organic compost and refuse-derived fuel would also be made.

Addressing a workshop on municipal solid waste organised here on Monday by Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board, Environment Minister B.V. Ramana said that the civic body would soon invite expression of interest for the project at Kodungaiyur.

Through such projects, the government intends to reduce the load of the dump yards, particularly the one in Perungudi, which is on the Pallikaranai marsh.

It would also be a scientific method of removing the accumulated waste and hence limit the land filling to minimum, the Minister said.

Similar projects would also be considered for other municipal solid waste dump yards across the State, he added.

Mr.Ramana said that Coimbatore and Salem Municipal Corporations had been able to implement solid waste processing facilities. The Chennai Corporation had, however, not been able to process the collected waste.

TNPCB Member Secretary K. Karthikeyan said that there were technologies to produce power from unsegregated waste. “In Pune, they are producing one MW of power from 70 tonnes, which means there is a possibility of producing 21 MW each in Perungudi and Kodungaiyur dump yards. The million tonnes of garbage could be biomined and over a period of time there would be no waste in the yards,” he added.

Environment Secretary C.V.Shankar said that the city will soon get 50 plastic collection centres at a cost of Rs.8 lakh each. He said local bodies could give some kind of incentive to residents to segregate garbage at home.

Protestors arrested

Over 50 persons, including Perambur MLA A. Soundararajan, who participated in a protest in Ezhil Nagar on Monday demanding relocation of the Kodungaiyur dumping ward, were arrested.

Police said the group, including residents of the area, said that the dumping yard was affecting their living conditions.

They were arrested after they tried to sit on a fast. The protesters were released in the evening, police added.

Traffic in the area was thrown hit for over an hour due to the agitation.

 
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