In a bid to find a solution to the long-pending problem of garbage disposal, the unit holders of Ambattur industrial estate are planning to create a facility to segregate and dispose hazardous industrial waste.
The disposal of both hazardous and non-hazardous waste is a major issue in the estate. In an attempt to manage hazardous waste, the Ambattur Industrial Estate Manufacturers Association (AIEMA), recently got permission to establish stocking yards to collect, segregate and dispose the industrial waste.
P. Raman, an AIEMA member, said that once established, the facility would be first of its kind in Chennai. Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board has given consent to build two yards, each spread over 2,000 sq.ft., in the south and north phases of the estate. The yards would have impervious flooring to prevent groundwater pollution.
At present, about one tonne of industrial waste, including oil-soaked cotton waste, is generated daily by the engineering and auto components manufacturing units. The unit holders now incur huge expenditure in transporting the industrial waste. “We are planning to outsource the segregation and transport of waste to recycling industries,” he said. The project would take shape in six months.
Over the past one year, vacant plots in both the south and north phases of the industrial estate have become makeshift dumping yards as door-to-door collection of waste was suspended.
At First Cross Main Road, off Aavin Diary Road in north phase of the estate, drugs are also dumped along with cloth waste and garbage from neighbouring areas such as Pattaravakkam.
Burning of garbage is also common.
Members of the AIEMA said that the collection of garbage has become erratic over the past one year. Its vice-president K. Saisathya Kumar, said that several of the 30 garbage bins were also damaged whenever the piles of waste were burnt. “We have represented our problems to Chennai Corporation and are ready to provide more bins,” he said.
Sources in the Corporation said that the estate is being maintained by Tamil Nadu Small Industries Development Corporation and the unit holders would have to pay the civic body to take up garbage clearance.
