Municipalities in Ernakulam that have failed to set up facilities for treatment of biodegradable waste are paying lakhs for dumping it at the Kochi Corporation’s Brahmapuram site, records have revealed.
The drain on the exchequer has exposed the failure of civic bodies to ensure sustainable models for treatment of biodegradable waste as part of the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016. The records pertain to the money spent by municipalities including Kalamassery, Aluva, Thripunitura, Thrikkakara and Angamaly.
An assessment of the waste transported to Brahmapuram from Kalamassery municipality in May alone showed that the local body had incurred ₹6.57 lakh as the quantity of biodegradable waste was 463.27 tonnes. The civic body remits ₹1,420 to the Kochi Corporation for transporting a tonne of waste to Brahmapuram.
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Thrikkakara municipality spent ₹4.99 lakh for transporting and dumping biodegradable waste at Brahmapuram in May, according to official records.
The total waste generated was 555.16 tonnes in May, and the municipality remits ₹900 per tonne as fee for dumping waste at Brahmapuram.
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Thripunitura generated 123.9 tonnes of biodegradable waste in May. According to a representative of the finance standing committee, the municipality used to pay ₹2 per kg for transporting waste to Brahmapuram. The expenditure incurred for the month of May will be ₹2.47 lakh.
Thrikkakara and Kalamassery municipalities have been transporting biodegradable waste to Brahmapuram for the last seven years.
Records pertaining to the month of July re-affirmed the increasing burden on the coffers of local bodies which could have utilised funds spent since 2012-13 for installing biomethanation plants to treat food waste. Kalamassery had to pay ₹6.28 lakh (442.45 tonnes), while the correspnding figures for Thrikkakara and Thripunitura were ₹5.52 lakh (613.5 tonnes) and ₹2.28 lakh (114.3 tonnes) respectively.
The State Pollution Control Board has slapped notices on all these municipalities for their failure to set up solid waste processing facilities for complete quantity of waste generated from the local body at 0.4 to 0.5 kg/person/day by April 8, 2019. The agency had blamed the local bodies for dumping biodegradable waste on roadsides and other spaces in violation of the provisions of the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016.