In the recent past, the Attingal municipality has made several strides in implementing waste management programmes, and when the civic body inaugurates a biogas plant, with capacity to process 1,000 kg of waste a day, at the Attingal market next week, it will be yet another milestone.
The plant, one of the eight to be established in public places, is in the final stages of completion. “We hope to get water and electricity connections within two to three days. The plant will be operational by the end of next week,” municipality vice-chairman M. Pradeep told The Hindu.
He said the gas produced from the plant could be utilised for cooking purposes by shops near the market, and the modalities for supplying useable methane were being worked out.
The State government had extended Rs.70 lakh for setting up the plants, he said, adding that work on the remaining seven was nearing completion.
The plants would be established in the waste treatment yard at Chudukad, Government Boys Higher Secondary School, Government Girls Higher Secondary School, District Institute for Education and Training, Industrial Training Institute, Government College, and Government Polytechnic. While the plant inside the waste treatment yard would process 1,000 kg a day, the remaining would process 300 to 500 kg waste a day, he said.
The municipality, he said, had asked the private agency entrusted with the job to complete the work by early next month.
Taking further its effort to decentralise garbage management, the civic body had so far distributed more than 400 biogas plants, with capacity to process 5 kg of waste a day, to households, Mr. Pradeep said. Each plant cost Rs.8,800. As much as 75 per cent of the total cost of the plant was borne by the Suchitwa Mission and the municipality, he said.
Mr Pradeep said preliminary work for establishing the sanitary landfill facility for the disposal of non-biodegradable waste in around one acre of land near the existing treatment plants at Chudukad had been completed. The Kerala Pollution Control Board has given its approval to set up the landfill at a cost of Rs.1. 3 crore. A detailed project report had been submitted to the Local Self-Government Department for technical clearance, he added.
In a sanitary landfill, waste is deposited in thin layers in a protected pit and compressed using machinery. Several layers of waste are placed inside and then compacted on top of each other to form a refuse cell. Finally the refuse cell will be covered with thick soil.
