In a move that would help the Erode City Municipal Corporation to reuse the 7.4 acre at Vairapalayam compost yard that is located along the River Cauvery, the civic body has began landfill bio-mine the 0.90 lakh cubic metre legacy waste at the yard here.
Municipal solid waste generated in the past 60 years was dumped at Vairapalayam and Vendipalayam which had accumulated to 5.35 lakh cubic metre of garbage. Under the Smart City Mission, the corporation has proposed to bio-mine the waste at a total cost of ₹ 37.25 crore. Installation of machineries was completed at Vairapalayam while work is in progress at Vendipalayam. Work order was issued to Zigma Global Environ Solutions Private Limited and work began on August 18.
Process in landfill bio-mining includes, bio-remediating the entire waste by converting into equi-sized windrows and application of bio-culture. Then the windrows are turned several times to ensure that the waste is stabilised, free from odour, flies and allowing the escape of methane gas that might have got trapped in the waste. The plant at Vairapalayam has a capacity to process 250 to 400 tonne per day and 40 skilled and unskilled workers are involved in the process.
Company officials monitoring the process said that the process is simple, hi-tech and eco-friendly method of remediating old open waste dumps to permanently achieve near-zero emission of landfill gases and leachate. They added that landfill bio-mining process is effective when compared to bio-capping technique as the later cause damage to both environment and property.
Corporation officials said that the segregated sand will be used for agriculture while the dry waste will be sent to cement factories to be used as fuel. They added that after completion of the entire process, the vacant land will be used for implementing other projects.
