The Tiruchi Corporation, which had asked the major hotels, restaurants and eateries to go in for on-site composting of solid waste on their premises, has set up an onsite compost unit at Uzhavar Sandhai in Anna Nagar.
For composting, it has constructed two cement pits — one for storing and the other for producing enriched compost with the use of earthworms.
Each pit can store about 6 tonnes of solid waste such as disposed vegetables and fruits.
Though the formal production is yet to begin, the farmers and traders, who sell vegetables at Uzhavar Sandhi, have been asked to dump waste in the onsite composting pits.
Similarly, the officials of agricultural marketing, who control, administer and oversee the functioning of Uzhavar Sandhais (farmers’ markets), have been asked to issue instructions to the shoppers not to dump waste indiscriminately.
According to a rough estimate, about 6 tonnes of waste has already been stored in a pit for decomposing.
Corporation officials said that it would take at least 3 to 4 weeks for it to get fully decomposed.
After that it would be transferred to the neighbouring pits for the next process of producing vermi compost.
“Uzhavar Sandhai at Anna Nagar alone generates about half a tonne of waste. The vermicompost unit is aimed at disposing the entire solid waste at the generating site itself,” a senior official of the Tiruchi Corporation told The Hindu .
He said there were buyers for vermicompost as it was a fine, granular, organic manure and worm casts were rich in nutrients so as to boost the growth of various crops and nurseries.
However, the shoppers at Uzhavar Sandhai said the cement pits were insufficient to store the waste being generated. They had reached their full capacity within two days.
When it was brought to the knowledge of an official, he said it had been decided to construct a few more pits on the Uzhavar Sandhai premises. A team would visit the site to decide on the storage capacity of pits.
All other required infrastructure would also be created shortly.
