While typical dumpyards are characterised by attributes such as unbearable stench, swarms of houseflies and other insects, smoke billowing from heaps of garbage etc., the one at C.Ramapuram village of Tirupati Rural mandal bears little evidence of it. Hectic activity is on here with a couple of excavators and some machinery carrying out bioremediation treatment of waste.
Efforts by the Municipal Corporation of Tirupati (MCT) to employ the best practices in solid waste management have resulted in the officials embarking on a pilot project to take up bioremediation works at the decade-old dump site. This was in tune with Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu’s call to work towards effective utilisation of waste, and the municipal officials have envisaged an action plan not only to set up a waste-to-energy plant but also clear accumulated waste at the dumping yard.
Out of the 190 metric tonnes of waste produced every day in the temple city, garbage is segregated into wet and dry waste components, before transferring it to facilities at Thukivakam and C.Ramapuram respectively.
Second such facility
“The bioremediation treatment was successfully conducted at Kumbakonam Municipality (in Tamil Nadu) and we wanted to examine the feasibility of setting up a similar facility at C.Ramapuram, and reclaim the existing land. The process, expected to be the second of its kind after Kumbakonam, has already begun at the dump site and we will soon take a decision after evaluating the outcome,” maintained Municipal Commissioner C. Hari Kiran.
Speaking to The Hindu , Mr. Kiran said that they had engaged a bioremediation machine (by Zigma Global Environ), which would segregate plastic, paper, metals, rocks – big and small – and other materials, besides converting organic waste into a very fine compost.
“The plastic-paper waste converted into bundles can be used as fuel in some cement producing plants, a combination of soil and rock can be used as landfill at quarries and compost can be used for landscaping works in government facilities or sold,” he said.
According to a senior municipal official, implementation of the project would be an appropriate solution for the dumping yard issue at C.Ramapuram.
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