BHUBANESWAR: The Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) has initiated steps to engage a dedicated agency for collection and scientific processing of all green waste from parks under its jurisdiction.
BDA officials said the agency will collect all green waste including grass clippings, tree leaves, fallen branches, twigs, flower waste, weeds, pruned branches and other biodegradable horticulture waste from the parks managed by it. The move is aimed at keeping the park premises clean besides processing of the green waste.
BDA will collect the green waste from designated collection points and ensure pathways, lawns and surrounding areas of the parks remain clean.
Officials said the BDA currently manages around 50 major parks across the state capital including IG Park, Biju Patnaik Park, APJ Abdul Kalam Park, Madhusudan Das Park, Guru Kelu Charan Mohapatra Park and Buddha Jayanti Park. On an average, these parks witness a footfall of around 40,000 on a daily basis.
As it is, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) has already initiated process to set up a 50 tonne-per-day (TPD) green-waste plant in the city where lignocellulosic waste such as green waste, leaves, branches and other biomass residues will be processed for conversion into value-added products including smokeless charcoal. The green waste collected from the parks can also be processed at the proposed plant, officials said.
