Kodaikanal Municipality manages 17 tonnes of waste daily

DINDIGUL

“Waste management in a tourist spot is a herculean task and we successfully process about 17 tonnes of waste generated in this town on a daily basis,” said Municipal Commissioner D. Narayanan.

The amount of dry and wet waste collected is 6 tonnes and 11 tonnes per day from the 24 wards, which is processed in three different centres in Kodaikanal by the Municipality, he added.

Located 12 km away from the city, the Kodaikanal Municipality compost yard in Seeradumkanal in Adukkam panchayat is the heart of the waste management process.

The yard comprises two Resource Recovery Centre (RRCs) where glass bottles, thermocol, coir etc are segregated.

The remaining of the total 17 tonne of dry and wet waste generated is processed and converted as organic manure.

“Around 3 tonnes of manure per week is produced from the compost yard which has a growing customer base among the farmers here as its sold for ₹5 per kg. It is being used at the Rose Garden in Kodaikanal as well,” said D. Alexander, Sanitary Inspector of Division III.

Further, 20 per cent of the mixed waste is segregated on a large conveyor belt, from which non-recyclable plastic items are separated as Reduced Derived Fuel (RDF), compressed and sealed in sacks.

“For the past three years, the Municipality has been spending ₹25,000 per trip to transport the RDF to a private cement factory in Ariyalur, which they use as fuel,” said Mr Alexander. A total of 13 tonne of RDF is transported three times a week.

Further, the RRC in Ananthagiri has been functioning effectively for the past five months, which is the only RRC within town limits.

“Dry waste from households in six surrounding wards (wards 17, 18, 19, 20, 21 and 23) are brought here and segregated into saleable products by sanitary workers,” said Mr Narayanan.

The centre has separate pits for rubber shoes, coconut shells, plastic covers and packets, plastic bottles and glass bottles.

Sanitary workers are encouraged to urge people to segregate waste effectively, who later sell them to earn an additional income to support their livelihood. “As people segregate waste and workers gain from it, it’s a win-win situation for both people and the Municipality,” said Mr Alexander.

Speaking to The Hindu, Municipal Vice Chairman K.P.N. Mayakannan said he distributed green and blue dustbins to people in his Ward 21 out of his own interest to instil the habit of segregating waste at homes.

“Through this, we hope to achieve 100 per cent segregation of waste from households within three months,” he said.

Municipal Chairman C. Chelladurai said that he would distribute similar bins in his ward 17 to motivate people to be responsible for the waste they generate.

“Depending on the satisfactory results of the plant, we are planning to add two more RRC centres in the town to tackle the accumulated waste within the Municipality limits,” said Mr Narayanan.

Bio-methanation plant

Kodaikanal municipality has also set up a bio-methanation plant at Shenbaganur a month back at of ₹50 lakh, which is currently running on a trial basis.

The plant processes 2 tonne of wet (food) waste from hotels, vegetable markets, fruit and meat shops.

The plant requires 1 liter to process 1 kg of waste which in return provides 100 units of electricity per day.

“The water used returns as 2,000 liter of slurry water which is currently used to maintain the garden around the plant. While the electricity is used to run the plant itself,” said Mr Alexander.

The officials are in talks with organic farmers to procure the slurry water for cultivation while the Municipality has plans to utilise the electricity produced to power the streetlights in the area, after the trial phase.

Commissioner D. Narayanan also said that another bio-methanation plant would be set up soon in the town.

The municipal Bio-Gas plant near Shenbaganur in Kodaikanal. | Photo Credit: KARTHIKEYAN G