CHENNAI: The Chennai Central generates as much as 13-15 tonnes of garbage every day, all of which is currently dumped at the Kodungaiyur dump yard of the Chennai Corporation.
But soon, much of that waste will help railways save up on their hefty energy requirement. How? Railway authorities have drawn up plans to soon commission an organic waste-to-energy plant, for which land has already been identified near the station.
With approximately 30 food outlets catering for lakhs of passengers daily, the waste generated at the busy station is primarily organic in nature. It is this waste that authorities hope to make better use of, instead of just dumping them.
As a first step, station officials say they are implementing a segregated collection of garbage. “We have received instruction to provide different coloured dustbins for collecting biodegradable (green) and non-biodegradable (black) wastes. Since Chennai Central is A1 category station, we were required to do the source segregation before the year-end. But we have already implemented it,” informed a station official.
Consequent to the above measure, a senior divisional railway officer confirmed the move to have the waste-to-energy plant. He stated that it was part of a nation-wide plan, which would see such plants being set up across 10 railway zones in the country, including Southern Railway.
“Tenders are expected to be shortly called for the plant by RITES, which is a Central government-owned infrastructure consultancy group. We have identified land of about 1,000 sq ft,” the official said.