CHENNAI: The federation of North Chennai residents’ welfare association, who have been opposing the waste to energy (WtE) plant in Kodungaiyur, met mayor R Priya on Thursday with an alternative suggestion for waste management in the city.
The residents submitted a plan with a goal to ensure resource recovery by putting an end to waste disposal in incinerators and landfills. With 68% of the average municipal waste produced in Chennai a day being biodegradable, they proposed to manage waste with home/apartment level composting and biogas as the first step, with 20 centralised compressed biogas plants, each having 100 tonne capacity to handle wet waste.
The document was authored by Chythenyen Devika Kulasekaran, Centre for Financial Accountability (CFA), Vishvaja Sambath, CFA and Chennai Climate Action Group (CCAG), among others.
The residents said that since the contract period of the waste to energy plant is 25 years, it makes waste reduction and minimisation goals impossible during the period. It is also an economic burden to the civic body by having one of the highest installation and operation costs of any waste management system, the residents said, along with being electricity-intensive.
“None of the existing 21 WtE plants in India, including Hyderabad and Delhi, comply with the emission parameters of Central Pollution Control Board,” the proposal said.
Despite the opposition, the city corporation has been going steady with the waste to energy proposal in Kondungaiyur, adopting a resolution in its council meeting on Tuesday to appoint a private consultant to monitor the construction and operation of the plant for a three-year period.