The Hindu 01.04.2013
Local waste, localised disposal
Compost yards placed strategically across localities, are making a comeback in the city.
To
deal with the mounting problem of garbage collection and disposal, the
Chennai Corporation has decided to rejuvenate one of its old proposals —
compost yards in every zone that will deal with waste locally.
Bids
for construction of such facilities in areas such as R.K. Nagar have
been floated this week. To begin with, the R.K. Nagar yard is expected
to process ten tonnes of biodegradable waste per month.
In
other areas such as Perambur, identification of land for compost yards
is underway. At least ten grounds of land are required to commission a
compost yard at the local level.
“We have created
awareness among residents in Mottai Garden, Old Washermenpet, to set up a
compost yard in their locality,” said an official. Around 250
households are already participating in the segregation of municipal
solid waste, to facilitate operations at the new compost yard, he added.
Some
years ago, the Chennai Corporation had compost yards in all its 10
zones. But they fell into disuse, and are not operational at present.
The current project is envisaging their revival.
According
to officials, many added zones such as Sholinganallur have facilities
for compost yards created by erstwhile local bodies. Such facilities
too, will be revived by the civic body.
The aim of
the initiative is to reduce the Corporation’s burden of collecting
increasing volumes of garbage. The coming months may witness a flurry of
activity on local solutions to the problem of municipal solid waste in
the city, the official said.
An earlier proposal for
larger compost yards to handle nearly 300 tonnes of garbage generated
from suburbs such as Tambaram, Pallavaram and Alandur Municipalities was
a failure. In 2007, the erstwhile Alandur Municipality decided to pull
out of the project.
