As part of its efforts to ensure a green protocol for public places in Kottayam, the district administration will soon roll out a smart garbage monitoring system to coordinate and monitor waste disposal activities and projects of the various local bodies.
According to District Collector P.K.Jayasree the first phase of the project will be implemented in 27 grama panchayats and all municipalities in the district. The system is being implemented with software developed by Keltron. .
Meanwhile, the Collector has directed government staff in the district to maintain green protocol in offices and their houses with facilities for safe disposal of non-degradable waste including bio-waste.
“Action should be taken for the disposal of non-degradable waste in collaboration with the Haritha Karma Sena of the local bodies where the office and house are located. The inorganic waste has to be handed over to the Haritha Karma Sena by paying the user fee,” the Collector said.
As per official estimates, the authorities have collected 252.56 tonnes of waste including recyclable plastic and bottles over a period of nine months from the district.
According to P. Ramesh, district coordinator, Haritha Keralam Mission, 52,241 kg of recyclable plastic, 1,76,975 kg of other waste and 23,345 kg of glass were removed during the period from January to September. The garbage was collected through 1,935 employees of the Haritha Karma Sena deployed by the various local bodies.
Officials said the process of garbage collection has been a major source of income for the local bodies, which stood at ₹88.81 lakh over the past two months. Of this, the panchayats recorded a total income of ₹77.93 lakh while the income from municipalities stood at ₹10.87 lakh.
The district has 75 waste collection centres, 1,320 small waste collection centres and 16 resource recovery facilities to store the disposed materials till being handed over to the concerned agencies for processing.
