Ullal City Municipality will on Friday launch a programme to distribute free green bins to about 20,000 houses for depositing wet waste, according to municipal Commissioner Rayappa.
Each bin has a capacity to store 10 kg of wet waste. One such bin has cost the municipality ₹121, Mr. Rayappa told The Hindu .
The aim is to discourage people from handing over wet waste to solid waste collectors of the municipality in plastic carry bags and thus, motivate them to strictly adhere to segregating waste at source, he said.
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The commissioner said that the municipality collected 11 tonnes of wet waste and eight tons of dry waste daily. In addition, two tonnes of poultry waste is generated in its jurisdiction comprising 31 wards.
Of the wet waste collected, the municipality converted four tonnes as compost daily. The compost is being made at a site near the office of the municipality in Ullal and at a private site at Kallapu.
Each site composted two tonnes of wet waste daily. The remaining seven tonnes of wet waste is being sent to Mangaluru City Corporation’s compost plant at Pachchanady.
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The municipality has identified two more private sites, one at Uliya and the other at Kallapu, for converting wet waste as compost. The compost units in those sites will be commissioned in another three months and the municipality will stop transporting wet waste to Pachchanady.
Dry waste is being sent for recycling to Belagavi by further segregating it through an agency. Poultry waste is being used by a company in Baikampady for making animal feed.
Mr. Rayappa said that the Ullal brand manure produced from wet waste and launched last week has already seen good demand. It is being sold at ₹10 per kg in packs of 10 kg each. This manure can be used for gardening and other agriculture purposes.