The Hindu 02.02.2011
Plant to produce bio-manure from solid waste in the offing
The Rs. 15-crore project to come up at dump in Ariyamangalam
The Integrated Waste Management and Urban Services Company (Tamil Nadu),
engaged in the business of managing municipal solid waste, organic
waste, toxic waste, disposal of bio-medical waste, and other urban
services in the State, would set up a Rs.15 crore plant to produce
bio-manure from the solid waste generated in the city.
The plant will be set up at the Tiruchi Corporation’s garbage dump at Ariyamangalam in the city.
The company got the nod for the project from the
Corporation Council last week, ending the uncertainty that had prevailed
after a section of the councillors opposed it in December.
The Corporation, in 2007, awarded the contract for the
establishment of a bio-manure production unit on a build, operate and
transfer (BOT) basis to the Salem-based Sivasakthi Environment
Development Trust. The Integrated Waste Management and Urban Services
Company (IWMUST) will execute the project based on a novation agreement
(a legal instrument that provides for an arrangement to substitute one
party for another in a contract) between the two agencies.
R.Sarto, Chief Operating Officer, IWMUST, who was in the city on Saturday, told The Hindu that
the plant would process about 300 tonnes of solid wastes every day to
produce about 40 to 45 tonnes of manure, which could be used for
agriculture.
The company would invest about Rs.10.50 crore on the civil works and the rest of the project cost would go towards machinery.
The plant would have a pre-processing unit, which would
sort out the solid waste and an aerobic digestion unit through which the
solid waste would be biologically decomposed for a period of six to
eight weeks.
“The plant will be operational by April and to start
with it will process about 50 tonnes of solid wastes a day. The capacity
will be gradually scaled up to 300 tonnes in two to three months,” he
said. Apart from the rent for the leased land, the company will also pay
the Corporation for every tonne of bio-manure manufactured.
Mr.Sarto said the plant will be of international
standards and the company was already operating similar plants in Erode,
Coonoor, Mettupalayam, Pollachi and Udumalpet.
He also indicated that a scientific closure of the
accumulated garbage of over 11.5 lakh tonnes lying at the dump at the
next phase.
The huge mounds of garbage were to be compacted and converted into lush green hillocks.
Jerome Arockiaraj, Ariyamangalam zone chairperson of
the Corporation, said the project will contribute to a significant
improvement in the civic body’s garbage disposal system. This has been a
long pending problem and the project would be an ideal solution, he
said.
