KOCHI: One of the biggest challenges which the floods have left in their wake is the treatment of waste collected from flood-affected areas.
In Ernakulam district, non-biodegradable waste is being brought from 30 local bodies in flood-hit areas. So far, 3,424 tonnes of non-biodegradable waste has been collected. Of this, the waste transported to Brahmapuram comes to around 2,810 tonnes, including 1,330 tonnes transported by the Clean Kerala Company and 1,480 tonnes by local bodies.
In addition to Brahmapuram, 180 tonnes of non-biodegradable waste has been transported to the Kerala Enviro Infrastructure Ltd (KEIL)’s sanitary landfill at Ambalamedu.
The data available with Kerala Suchitwa Mission says a total 2,200 policemen and over 8,000 volunteers took part in cleaning drives, while 300 technical volunteers were engaged in repairing electronic goods and in electric and plumbing works.
The non-biodegradable waste was segregated into three broad categories: Plastic, electronic waste as well as beds, sofas, cushions and clothes.The agency has also identified 12,200 tonnes of biodegradable waste from the flood-affected areas. It was disposed of at a centralised location with the help of local bodies.
Animal carcass
The disposal of animal carcasses in the initial days post the floods had also proved challenging for the Mission. Thousands of animal bodies were gathered with the help of local bodies and their scientific burial was carried out. Nearly 70,000 animal carcasses have been found of which 2,300 were of big animals.