SMC eyes Rs 110 crore from industrial waste disposal

Surat: Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) is eyeing annual revenue of Rs110 crore from collection and disposal of industrial waste of the Diamond City.
At present, the Diamond City daily generates about 80 tonnes of industrial waste majorly from textile units, including power loom weaving units and textile markets.

After the nod given by the standing committee, the SMC has decided to fix user charge of Rs1,100 per unit per annum for the disposal of such industrial waste. The industrial waste will be collected door-to-door in tractors and brought to the waste collection depot. From there, a contractor who reprocesses waste, will generate high temperature steam using pyrolysis method. The steam so produced will then be sold to industrial units where steam is used as a heat conductor.

Official sources said there are about one lakh textile units, including textile shops and auxiliary units generating industrial waste of 80 tonnes per day. About 31,000 units are located in Udhana zone followed by 23,000 in Varachha, 22,000 in north zone, 15,000 in Limbayat zone.

A total of 71 tractors and 234 workersa have been hired for door-to-door collection of industrial waste and bringing it to waste collection centre on a daily basis.

A senior officer in solid waste department said, “At present, the civic body is incurring daily expense of Rs2.66 lakh for collecting and disposing of 80 tonnes of solid waste. Against this, the user charge of Rs1,100 will earn extra annual income to the civic body.”

Federation of Surat Textile Traders’ Association (FOSTTA) secretary Champalal Bothra said, “There are 65,000 textile shops in over 165 textile markets on Ring Road. It is all fabric waste and other packaging waste which go into the dump. If SMC collects the waste on nominal user charges, we are ready.”