Mayor pins hopes on mixed waste processing plant

A view of the Hanjer Biotech Energies Pvt. Ltd. plant in Salem.

Mayor B.S. Sathyanarayana isn’t too worried about the hiccups in enforcing waste segregation at source in the city. After visiting the Hanjer Biotech Energies Pvt. Ltd. plant in Salem, which generates compost, plastic ingots and refuse derived fuel from mixed waste, the Mayor hopes to set up one such plant here as well.

He visited the plant on Wednesday with city in-charge Minister Ramalinga Reddy, BBMP commissioner M. Lakshminarayan and several councillors.

“We will apprise the High Court of Karnataka about this technology that processes mixed waste. If the court okays it, the BBMP can go slow on setting up dry waste collection centres across the city,” Mr. Sathynarayana said.

‘Segregation a must’

However, Mr. Lakshminarayan maintained that segregation of waste at source was the only viable long-term solution to solving the city’s garbage problem. Segregation was mandatory as per the Municipal Solid Waste Management Rules. “While processing technology that uses mixed waste is good, segregation of garbage at source is important,” he said.

New plant

Mr. Reddy and Mr. Sathyanarayana wanted to know when the company would establish the processing unit at Rajarajeshwarinagar here. Nadeem Furniturewala, managing director of the company, said they had already submitted plans for the plant to the BBMP and were waiting for approval.

“The BBMP has to build a compound wall around the land before handing it over to us, following which we can begin the construction activities. We will be able to commission the plant in 10 to 12 months,” he said.

Mr. Furniturewala said the plant in Bangalore, to be set up on a 10-acre plot, would have the capacity to process 800 tonnes of mixed waste. The company had applied for loan on the machinery to set up the plant. “We cannot take loan on the land as the land belongs to the BBMP.”

Mr. Reddy assured Mr. Sathyanarayana and Mr. Lakshminarayan of getting the requisite clearances. He said the city needed at least four such processing units for effective solid waste management.