With accumulated municipal solid waste at the Corporation’s dumping yards at three places continue to be a major problem, the civic body has decided to scientifically process the waste and dispose it of.
The unsegregated solid waste was dumped at three yards, Vendipalayam (19.46 acre), Vairapalayam (20 acre) and Kasipalayam (1.50 acre). Currently, 300 tonnes waste is generated in the city everyday. However, in the absence of solid waste treatment plants, the waste are dumped at Vendipalayam and Kasipalayam as dumping at Vairapalayam was stopped after opposition from the local people. An agreement was made with a private company to process the waste at Vendipalayam in 2009 that would produce organic manure from the waste. However, after a few years, the project was halted.
One-third of the waste in the yard at Vairapalayam, located along the river, was washed away during the recent floods. Officials said while 70,000 tonne waste was washed away while the remaining 1.50 lakh tonne continue to be in the yard. Since, the waste, that were dumped even before 100 years could not be disposed, they had proposed to dispose it scientifically through bio-mining.
Corporation Commissioner M. Seeni Ajmal Khan told The Hindu that under the Smart City Mission, a proposal has been submitted for bio-mining the entire waste at a cost of ₹ 37 crore. He said that tender process has already been initiated and work order will soon be issued for the process. “After clearing the garbage, the space will be utilised to establish a park”, he added.
Officials said that there are various methods in bio-mining, non-biodegradable waste can be sent to factories to be used as fuel, using bio-culture to reduce the size of the garbage and segregate it and converting the bio-degradable waste into organic manure. The consultant will study the process and decide the method to be adopted, they added.