Corporation begins composting organic waste at Vellalore

The Coimbatore Corporation has begun composting organic waste at its facility in the Vellalore dump yard.

According to the sources, the Corporation has a separate facility – other than the one run by Coimbatore Integrated Waste Management Company Pvt. Ltd. – to manage 450 – 500 tonnes of waste a day. The city generates close to 900 tonnes of waste a day. Nearly 400 tonnes of it goes to the Company’s facility and the rest the Corporation manages.

At this facility, the civic body processes over 50 tonnes of organic waste a day – collected from wards, markets and restaurants.

The Corporation uses exclusive vehicles to transport the organic waste and dumps it in an open yard measuring 2,800 sq.m. at the facility. The waste will remain in the open for 21 days. Effective microorganism and culture solutions are sprayed to fasten decomposing.

On the 22nd day, the waste will be shifted to tanks with earthworms. At the end of four weeks, the Corporation will take out the compost to be used at its parks, the sources say.

Biomethanation plants

Even as it goes about readying the organic waste, the Corporation has also repaired two biomethanation plants of three tonne capacity each. It will start diverting a portion of its composted waste to the plant to power street lights or small machinery at the Vellalore yard, the sources say.

For every 100 tonnes of waste the civic body composts, it gets 20 tonnes of manure.