THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: All the 25 health circles in Thiruvananthapuram city corporation will soon have Dry Waste Segregated Collection Hubs. Steps have been taken to identify locations to set up the facilities, as part of the plan which was mooted a few months back.
An official with the city corporation said if private parties are interested in associating with the plan, it would be welcome. At present, there are four dry waste collection hubs in the capital. The first one was set up at Sasthamangalam in June 2019 and the other three are in Palayam region. Due to Covid-related difficulties, these hubs are not manned at night now, with staff at Material Recovery Facilities (MRF) occasionally dropping in. The hubs, having separate slots for depositing glass waste, plastic, paper, sandals and bags, became an instant hit with even the local residents start making use of the facility, which was initially aimed at travellers.
Meanwhile, plans are being made to increase the number of MRFs — the centres where non-compostable solid waste can be temporarily stored by the local body— as well. “We have 57 functional MRFs. Maintenance works are under way at other centres. At present, these units are functioning in two shifts in the backdrop of the pandemic. We have been increasing the number of MRFs based on the availability of space. More locations are being identified for the purpose,” said the official.
The city corporation also has two Resource Recovery Facilities (RRF), which is a space provided with necessary infrastructure, machinery, tools and human power to sort, clean and store non-biodegradable discards from primarily sorted municipal waste and made available for production or consumption purposes. RRFs will have bailing and shredding facilities.