Five thousand tonnes of non-hazardous zero value waste, accumulated at Golden Rock Railway Workshop in Tiruchi over the years, has been safely disposed of to cement major UltraTech Cement Limited in neighbouring Ariyalur under Phase-I.

The exercise, which began in January last, was completed a few days ago with the final consignment of waste material transported from the workshop to the cement major thanks to a tie-up between the two.

The reclaimed land measuring nearly one lakh square feet is now being converted into a green belt through planting of saplings of various tree species. The agreement entered into between the cement major and the railway workshop in late 2017 paved the way for the safe and scientific disposal of non-hazardous zero value waste which had piled up for nearly three decades.

The waste materials such as cushions, rubber belts, rexin, berth covers and other rubber products caused serious concern to the workshop officials until the tie-up came through.

The over 80-year-old workshop is engaged in a myriad of activities, including periodic overhaul of diesel locomotives and passenger coaches, besides manufacture of container wagons and overhauling of locomotives deployed in the Nilgiri Mountain Railway.

The waste materials were segregated and dispatched through trucks in batches to the cement unit that uses them as an alternative fuel in its cement kilns with the technical name given to it being “co-processing”. The waste would be burnt at a very high temperature in the kilns leaving behind no residue. The co-processing system in cement units is approved by Central Pollution Control Board, said a senior official.

Workshop officials said 5,000 metric tonnes of zero value waste had been safely disposed of to the cement major in Phase-I. The agreement proved a win-win mechanism for both organisations as the workshop finally found a way to dispose of accumulated waste materials and the cement unit could use them as an alternative fuel in its kilns, the officials added.

The workshop is now gearing up to dispose of another 5,000 metric tonnes of piled up zero value waste in Phase -II to other cement units at Ariyalur as well. The waste materials have been lying on the peripheral road along the workshop’s East gate. The safe disposal of waste has prevented fire accidents, said a senior official.

The British-built workshop, one of the premier railway establishments, overhauls periodically more than 100 broad gauge diesel locomotives and over 1,000 passenger coaches every year. In addition to these, it has also been revamping passenger coaches of several express trains under Project ‘Utkrisht’ of late to make the compartments look swankier.