The fifth aerobic compost plant (Thumboormuzhi model) in the Kochi Corporation area was completed in the Kadebhagam division of the civic body, according to a communication.
The unit is part of the decentralised waste treatment project of the civic body. Two more plants will come up in the Corporation area, taking the total number of such units to seven, it said.
The environment-friendly plant was set up on a holding of the Madura company-Kothalenko Brothers Asramam. The Palluruthy Mandalam Serve Cooperative Bank provided an aid of ₹10.28 lakh under its public welfare fund for setting up the plant. Socio Economic Unit, Aluva, an empanelled agency of the Suchitwa Mission, installed the plant in the division.
The Corporation had been actively promoting decentralised waste treatment facilities to reduce the quantity of waste being transported to the solid waste treatment plant at Brahmapuram, the communication said.
Food waste
The civic body also cleared proposals for two black soldier fly units to process food waste. The plants are being proposed as interim waste management measures till the compressed biogas plant of BPCL-Kochi Refinery becomes operational.
A biogas unit too will be set up as part of the project. The two units together will process around 500 kg of biodegradable waste a day. The biogas generated from the unit will be used for cooking at the Asramam, and the slurry will be used as manure. The manure will be used in the agricultural farm run by the Asramam, the civic authorities said.
A portion of waste generated by nearly 2,000 houses in the division will be processed at the plant. Discussions are on to set up one more unit in the division so that waste could be handled in the division itself, they said.
