Concerned over the growing issue of solid waste management in the tourist town, a delegation of Sakleshpur Town Municipal Council members led by Rotary Sakleshpur visited the Mangaluru Ramakrishna Mission on Saturday, October 15, to learn more about effective system of solid waste management introduced by it.
The delegation was headed by TMC president Kadappa and guided by Rotary Club President ‘Sahana’ Shashidhar and Secretary Janekere Paramesh. The town with 23 wards witnesses collection of about 10 tonnes of waste every day and the municipality was finding it difficult to scientifically dispose of the collected waste.
As hundreds of tourists throng the town and surrounding villages, the civic body was conscious about keeping its environment clean, the delegation told Swami Ekagamyananda, who successfully led the Clean Mangaluru Mission and mentored the startup, Mangala Resource Management Pvt., Ltd.
Outsourcing solid waste management
Stating that outsourcing was the best method to address issues related to solid waste management, Swami Ekagamyananda told the delegation that segregation of the waste into dry and wet at source was mandatory.
Taking the delegation through the worm compost unit at the Ramakrishna Mutt, the Swami said the method of dumping wet waste in specially designed simple enclosures makes the waste get converted into manure through black soldier worms that are generated within the waste itself.
He also gave the example of the waste management project at Uppinangady village in Dakshina Kannada where Mangala Resources is successfully managing wet and dry wastes for the last two years. Revenues are generated at least equal to the cost of waste collection, he said giving another example of Mangala Resources project at K.S. Hegde Medical Academy in Deralakatte. The Material Resources Facility at Nitte in Udupi district managed by the same start-up handles dry waste from villages of Karkala and Hebri taluks too, he told the delegation.
Mr. Kadappa and Chief Officer S.S. Manjunath invited Swami Ekagamyananda and Mangala’s Managing Director Dilraj Alva to Sakleshpur town to guide the project.
