The Hindu 26.08.2014
Remove your car, park a waste converter
The compact waste converter takes up as much space as a four-wheeler.— Photo: Sampath Kumar G.P.
What if the organic waste did not have to be collected
from across wards? What if all of it could be processed within the ward
itself? With these ideas and a vision of decentralising the waste
processing system, a organic waste converter was set up here on Monday.
The
waste converter, weighing 1.1 tonne, has the capacity of processing 250
kg of organic waste a day and can cater to about 500 houses. The
converter, costing Rs. 10 lakh, was set up at the Madivala Vegetable
Market as part of a joint venture by the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara
Palike and Aruna Green Ventures, a private business unit based in
Bangalore.
Terming it as the “most compact waste
converter,” co-owner of Aruna Green Ventures Kumar Subba Rao said the
equipment takes up less than one car parking slot. The lifespan of the
converter is estimated to be 25 years. Mr. Kumar said the volume
reduction of waste in the converter is nearly 85 to 90 per cent. “Almost
60 per cent of the total waste is wet waste. The converter
automatically turns on the heating element once it detects wet waste and
eliminates most of it, which helps in reducing the volume of waste,” he
said. The waste will be converted into bio-manure. The converter runs
on electricity with a power-saving mode.