VIJAYAWADA: Following the guidelines of United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), Austria, the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) is formulating plans to ensure proper segregation of wet and dry waste and utilise it for production of electricity. In this regard, the civic body has decided to renovate the biomethanation plant at Ajit Singh Nagar and set up a new one at Jakkampudi.
According to the officials of VMC’s public health department, the city generates around 550 metric tonnes (MT) of municipal solid waste every day.
Of the total, 350 MT comprises of dry waste, 45 MT is wet waste and the rest comprises of plastic.
At present, the wet waste comprising of discarded vegetables, fruits and flowers is composted at waste treatment plants and composting units located across the city to produce organic manure, while dry waste comprising of construction and demolition waste, silt is shifted to the dumping yards.
To streamline the existing system, the municipal commissioner has directed the department to improve door-to-door segregation across the city and make Vijayawada garbage free. The civic body is analysing all possibilities to enforce solid waste management (SWM) practices through Online Waste Management System (OWMS)- IoT and ICT tools.
“If everything goes according to our plans, the quantity of wet waste generated in the city will increase to 100 MT from the existing 45 MT per day. It can be utilised for generating power by processing them at the biomethanation plants,’’ said VMC health officer K Madhusudhan Prasad.
Speaking to TNIE on Saturday, VMC superintendent engineer (Projects) JV Rama Krishna said that recently a team of representatives from UNIDO examined the progress of various projects being commissioned by the Corporation with the support of private players. After examining the biomethanation plant at Ajit Singh Nagar where methane gas is being produced out of vegetable and animal waste, the team suggested the civic body to treat the smoke emanating from the plant as the surrounding locality may become polluted, posing severe health risks to the public, he said.
Elaborating further, Rama Krishna said that the biomethanation plant commissioned in December 2018 is being jointly maintained by Chennai based Arumugam Arivu Bio Energy and Sundaram Fab Private Limited (Salem).
“The plant will handle 16 MT of vegetable waste and four tonnes of slaughter waste. The waste will be combined with cow dung and crushed in a shredder and the resulting product will be used to generate around 900 units of electricity per day. The plant will be connected to a power grid shortly,” he said, adding that proposals for a new biomethanation plant at Jakkampudi will be drafted soon and tenders will be invited shortly.