Plan to use garbage as filler material for railway station development works
The city, reeling under severe waste management crisis, seems to have found a redeemer in Railways, which has proposed to use the garbage as filler material for its railway station development works.
Urban Affairs Minister Manjalamkuzhi Ali says the State government has already reached at an understanding with Railways on implementing the proposal in the stations on city outskirts.
“Within two days, we will be able to move out a sizeable amount of waste, accumulated in the city, as part of this project,'' he says.
Mr. Ali also convened a meeting of top Government and Suchitwa Mission officials on Thursday to discuss the implementation of the proposal, which could provide the city Corporation and State government the much-needed relief from the crisis and save crores of rupees for the Railways.
Eco-friendly
“Using waste as filler material is an eco-friendly, cost effective and energy efficient option in the construction sector and it has been experimented in many other places. It has abundant possibilities in Railways, where we have an ongoing requirement for filler material to carry out construction works in railway stations on city outskirts. We will ensure that that the filling is done compactly and there is no issue of pollution or stench,” says Divisional Railway Manager, Rajesh Agrawal.
“We found in our research that municipal waste, especially non-biodegradable waste, suits the purpose of construction filler materials. If we make deep pits, we can also use biodegradable waste, which will eventually putrefy and blend into the soil,” he says.
Filling process
The multi-layer filling process involves compact filling of garbage over a layer of soil.
The garbage layer, which will be treated with inoculum, will then be covered with layers of soil, geotextile (a permeable fabric made out of coir) and plastic lining to avoid any leachate leak.
The multiple layers will be finally capped using concrete.
A senior government official says around 500 tonnes of waste will be used as filler material for the pilot project to construct a new platform terminal at a satellite railway station near the city.
Funding
The government official adds around Rs. 1 crore, which has been earlier allocated for a quarry land-filling project, will be reallocated for this.
An amount of Rs. 12 lakh advance has already been made to the Corporation to purchase geotextile, transportation of garbage and for carrying out preliminary filling works.
