THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The increasing volume of waste release into water bodies and the opposition to provide land to build waste treatment plants have prompted the Varkala municipality to have a mobile septage treatment unit.
The unit will ply Varkala roads soon. The Rs 40 lakh project has been approved. “We are now looking at all the available models. As of now, we are only planning an on call service system, where the vehicle will go to houses and suck out the waste and treat them on the spot.
We have sought a discussion with Suchitwa mission on the product we are buying,” said Bindhu Haridas, chairperson, Varkala Municipality.“We are planning to use the treated water in our gardens and farms. We will find more purposes for the water as we go forward. This should be a stepping stone in sewage treatment here. As of now, people are diverting the toilet waste to the beach side. With the mobile septage treatment unit we expect this practice to end,” said Bindhu.
The municipality is also planning new projects to manage solid waste. It already has a plastic shredding unit and five more are in the pipeline. Apart from this, a plastic baling unit and a plastic mixer is also among the new projects.
“Clean Kerala company collects the shredded plastic. With the arrival of a plastic baling unit, we will be able to compress the plastic, including plastic bottles. Rs 14 lakh has been approved for the project. We have also prepared a project for aerobins which will be undertaken by the Palakkad based IRTC company,” she said.