The Coimbatore corporation plans to adopt bio-mining for disposing 1.3 lakh tonnes of unprocessed waste that has been accumulating over the past few years. They also said that once it was undertaken, fire that frequently broke out especially during summer could be avoided.
The civic body had called for tenders a few months ago but will finalise it only after the elections. "In bio-mining, some organisms will be introduced into the garbage that will eat away the organic waste and reduce the dump size to 25% of its original size," said a senior official. Once we begin, the waste will be disposed off within six months. This dump of over 1 lakh tonnes of waste has grown over a period of past few years. While the civic body claims that they have been processing over 500 tonnes of waste every day in the plant and another 100 tonnes in the vermi-compost plant, activists claimed that only 150-200 tonnes was being processed by the plant and another 20-30 tonnes in the vermi-compost plant."The officials have not even begun collecting 100 tonnes of organic waste yet. The city only generated 20-30 tonnes of organic waste in its markets, hotels and marriage halls. Currently, only that much is being processed," said a city-based activist. This was confirmed by corporation officials who did not want to be named.
The official said that sustained effort on the part of the workers and officials was required to ensure that organic waste reached the dumpyard. "Technical expertise is also required in handling a vermi-compost plant. Generally corporations do not set up vermi-compost plants as they requir a lot of work and expertise from officials. Since corporation officials are held up with multiple projects, it is impossible to maintain the plant as it is not only a big responsibility but also a time consuming process," said an official. Corporation commissioner K Vijayakarthikeyan told TOI that they planned to hand over the maintenance of the plant to a private firm.
Meanwhile, as precautionary measures, they have taken steps to avoid fire at the dumpyard. "We spray the EM solution on the waste collected in every truck keeping it moist most of the time. We also sprinkle water around the dumps to ensure they are wet. We have asked officials and Rapid Action Force personnel to keep a watch on the dumpyard in case fire breaks out," said a corporation official in charge of the sump-yard. He added that they plan to plant nearly 7,000 more saplings at the dumpyard. "So far nearly 8,000 saplings have been planted," he added.
The civic body had called for tenders a few months ago but will finalise it only after the elections. "In bio-mining, some organisms will be introduced into the garbage that will eat away the organic waste and reduce the dump size to 25% of its original size," said a senior official. Once we begin, the waste will be disposed off within six months. This dump of over 1 lakh tonnes of waste has grown over a period of past few years. While the civic body claims that they have been processing over 500 tonnes of waste every day in the plant and another 100 tonnes in the vermi-compost plant, activists claimed that only 150-200 tonnes was being processed by the plant and another 20-30 tonnes in the vermi-compost plant."The officials have not even begun collecting 100 tonnes of organic waste yet. The city only generated 20-30 tonnes of organic waste in its markets, hotels and marriage halls. Currently, only that much is being processed," said a city-based activist. This was confirmed by corporation officials who did not want to be named.
The official said that sustained effort on the part of the workers and officials was required to ensure that organic waste reached the dumpyard. "Technical expertise is also required in handling a vermi-compost plant. Generally corporations do not set up vermi-compost plants as they requir a lot of work and expertise from officials. Since corporation officials are held up with multiple projects, it is impossible to maintain the plant as it is not only a big responsibility but also a time consuming process," said an official. Corporation commissioner K Vijayakarthikeyan told TOI that they planned to hand over the maintenance of the plant to a private firm.
Meanwhile, as precautionary measures, they have taken steps to avoid fire at the dumpyard. "We spray the EM solution on the waste collected in every truck keeping it moist most of the time. We also sprinkle water around the dumps to ensure they are wet. We have asked officials and Rapid Action Force personnel to keep a watch on the dumpyard in case fire breaks out," said a corporation official in charge of the sump-yard. He added that they plan to plant nearly 7,000 more saplings at the dumpyard. "So far nearly 8,000 saplings have been planted," he added.