VIJAYAWADA: In order to decentralise solid waste management and avoid dumping of waste at a centralised location without segregation, the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) has opted for decentralised wet waste compost units under its purview.
According to the VMC officials, the city generates 550 tonnes of garbage daily. The Ajith Singh Nagar dump yard, spread over 30 acres of land, has two lakh tonnes of unsegregated garbage accumulated over decades. Due to generation of methane gas, the garbage caught fire many a time. This issue prompted denizens to demand shifting of the dump yard. Decentralisation of solid waste management was one of the solutions finalised by the civic body.
As such, the VMC has entered a pact with Guntur-based Smart Waste Management System (SWMS) to establish eleven wet waste compost units across the city to produce organic manure out of recycled waste. This will enable the civic body to dispose the garbage by segregating them into perishable and non-perishable categories, a move that could later be used for revenue generation.
In October 2017, the Corporation launched an initiative for waste segregation where households and commercial establishments were asked to separate non-biodegradable waste from biodegradable. Public health department officials conducted a sensitisation programme and the public were distributed coloured bins for separation of wet and dry waste.
Speaking to TNIE, SWMS Managing Director Ch Harish said, “Unfortunately, most of us do not segregate dry waste from wet waste, which makes composting impossible. The precious wet waste, which can potentially become black gold, remains unusable.”
Explaining the procedure about the VMC’s new approach towards waste management, he said the collected wet waste would be placed on a segregation table to filter out plastic materials; then the waste would be sent on a long conveyor belt to the organic shredder. Once it is shredded, it would be sent to a procession pit where it would be converted into organic manure. “Each compost unit can manage 10 tonnes of waste per day. At present, they have a stock of 200 tonnes of ready compost,” he said.
Initially, the VMC is utilising the ready compost for maintaining greenery on the central medians. Several farmers and households are also showing interest in procuring the ready compost generated from the compost units.
Waste management
VMC, along with SWMS, will establish eleven wet waste compost units to produce organic manure out of the recycled waste. This will enable the civic body to dispose garbage by segregating them into perishable and non-perishable categories, a move that could later be used for revenue generation.