fter being hailed as a replicable model in the Union Ministry of Urban Development’s recent Municipal Solid Waste Management Manual, the CREDAI Clean City Movement (CCCM) is now set to expand its footprint to 20 cities in the country selected under the Smart Cities Mission.
The chapters of CREDAI, a nationwide agglomeration of builders, in these smart cities will take the initiative to facilitate sustainable waste management through treatment of waste at source. CCCM is a NGO formed in Kochi in 2007 as a corporate social responsibility initiative of CREDAI.
“We cover 80,000 apartments in Kerala and have already launched the movement in Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu as well. As we scale up our activities across the country, our immediate target is to cover one crore apartments in the country through 11,500 members of CREDAI. Even if 5,000 of our members take up the initiative, it would have a huge impact,” said Jose Joseph Moonjely, executive director, CCCM.
The CCCM has charted out an action plan of covering 1,000 apartments in a day for the next six months and to double it after that. It is scaling up the infrastructure capacity to meet this ambitious target. The CCCM offers three waste management solutions. It offers bio-bins and biogas plants to treat biodegradable waste to turn it into manure and biogas respectively and recycle non-biodegradable waste like plastics. “Training is being given to those from other States in the manufacture of bio-bins and gas plants and their operations since we alone cannot meet the need for equipment and training going forward,” said Mr. Moonjely.
For instance, funds have been allocated for setting up bio-bins at 50 centres in Tamil Nadu. More than 4,000 bio-bins would be needed to meet this demand, all of which cannot be manufactured in Kerala. Meanwhile, the trained staff of the CCCM is conducting sessions on the need for waste treatment at source for newly elected people’s representatives in all municipalities and panchayats in Ernakulam where 450 apartment complexes are already covered under the project. Impressed by the project, Aluva municipality has issued a circular making bio-bins mandatory for all building complexes. The CCCM treats 80 tonnes of waste in Kerala a day. Considering that a Corporation spends between Rs. 3,800 and Rs. 4,500 for treating a tonne, our initiative saves Rs.3.20 lakh a day, which runs into crores in a year, Mr. Moonjely said.
It covers 80,000 apartments in Kerala and aims to cover one crore apartments in the country.
