THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The City Corporation is slow-pedalling on the setting up of the Refuse-Derived Fuel (RDF) plant in the Vilappilsala waste treatment plant.
Though it had cleared all hurdles to set up the plant, the Corporation is now undecided as to what to do with the pellets/blocks formed when the reject is converted into a residual material.
The Corporation was planning to set up the RDF plant under the JNNURM project for the development of the Vilappilsala waste treatment plant.
The RDF plant helps convert waste into energy.
According to Corporation officials, the residue of the reject could be in blocks or pellets which could then be used as a fuel.
As of now, the coconut shells and other recyclable bulks have been mounting as a hillock giving much headache to the officials.
But absence of a concrete suggestion as to the possible uses of these fuel blocks formed after the treatment of reject is forcing the Corporation officials to put the project on the back burner, at least for the time-being.
‘‘People are used to burning wood or coconut shells as such. But when offered as these blocks, which we are not sure would have takers or not, they might be a little reluctant. If it turns negative, then in the place of the reject, the blocks would form a heap. So, we have decided not to take a risk. We will further study the possibilities of the RDF plant in Vilappilsala and once there is a concrete usage spotted, we would go for it,’’ said Deputy Mayor Happykumar.
The Corporation was planning to set up the plant by mid-May and a total of Rs 1.72 crore was set aside for it.
Though tenders were called thrice, there were no takers. Finally, the Centre for Environment and Development (CED) was given the responsibility of setting up the plant.
The reject was posing so much of a problem to the local body that it was actually the cause of two minor fires inside the waste treatment plant.
However, officials say the coconut shells and other bulk rejects could be used as such.
What if when converted into a residue, it fails to strike a selling point?
The Corporation was counting on the blocks/pellets as a product to be sold like the organic manure being produced in the plant.
At a workshop held in the city some months back on Urban Planning, it was pointed out by experts that taking into account the weather here, which is rainy most part of the year, there is high moisture content in the air, making the waste-to-energy technology not feasible.
Meanwhile, the Corporation is going ahead with the setting up of the plastic recycling units in three parts of the city to reduce the transportation of waste to Vilappilsala plant.