The Greater Chennai Corporation will organise an expert committee meeting to take forward its proposal for an integrated wet and dry waste processing plant in Kodungaiyur that could potentially resolve the crisis of legacy waste and lessening the pressure on the dump yard.
The meeting will be attended by experts and officials from IIT-Madras, Anna University, Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board, Tamil Nadu Electricity Board and the Corporation for a threadbare analysis of the plan and prepare a detailed project report.
The Corporation’s plans include an automated material recovery facility, which is a mechanised way of segregation. Under this, waste placed on a conveyor belt will be subjected to magnetic waves that will separate the recyclable from non-recyclable waste. Non-recyclable waste will then be sent to the adjoining proposed waste-to-energy (WTE) plant, said Chief Engineer N. Mahesan.
Power generation
Two phases have been mapped out for the WTE plant with an expected generation capacity of 20.76 MW in phase I and 10.30 MW in phase II. The capital cost of this plant is ₹301 crore. A bio CNG plant for wet waste with a capacity of 500 tonnes with a capital cost of ₹99 crore is part of the plan.
The benefits of this integrated facility for wet and dry waste include enriching the soil, reducing the smell that nearby residents experience, reducing and removing the carbon dioxide and methane emissions and the production of sustainable energy.
The Corporation had conducted study on a 550 tonnes Bio CNG plant at Indore as well as incineration plants in Singapore.
Work on reclaiming the Kodungaiyur dump yard through bio mining is expected to begin in July and be completed in two years. The reclaimed land will be converted into an eco park.
Stakeholders meeting
Earlier this week, the Corporation conducted a meeting of stakeholders, which was attended by zonal officials of Tondiarpet, the Regional Deputy Commissioner of north Chennai M. Sivaguru Prabakaran and representatives of the solid waste management and health department, including Mr. Mahesan, as well as resident’s welfare associations of the area.
According to Mr. Mahesan, the meeting served to help the stakeholders understand what the Corporation’s plans were and he added that the resident welfare associations responded positively. The civic body has drawn up an extensive plan regarding this plant and sees it as a ‘mega project’.
Some of the civic body’s projects that were in progress include reclaiming the Perungudi dump yard through bio mining, a performance- based system to measure the work done by Urbaser Sumeet and Ramky in their respective zones and 67 resource recovery centres and 71 material recovery facilities which together have a capacity of 353.75 tonnes.
