HUBBALLI: In a first for the state, the Hubballi-Dharwad Municipal Corporation is planning to set up a construction and demolition waste recycling plant at the new dumping yard in Shivalli village.
Here building debris will be processed and converted into ready-mix concrete, stones, cement tiles, cement bricks, hollow bricks and manufactured sand.
According to environment engineer of HDMC Girish Talwar, the twin cities generate 50-75 tonnes of debris every day.
Usually, during construction or demolition of buildings, owners dump the debris in open sites or on the outskirts and this is causing serious health problems.
The proposed plant will be the answer to all such problems, he said.
Joint Commissioner C W Shakeel Ahemad told Express that the general body meeting of HDMC has given its consent to set up the plant and a proposal will be sent to the government.
“It will spend `5.87 crore to set it up on two acres in Shivalli village where the HDMC has a new waste dumping yard. The building owners have to dump the debris at the specific collection points in the city. The HDMC has already identified seven collection points in Hubballi and five in Dharwad,” he said.
The owners have to pay `200 per tonne to dump the debris at the collection point. The debris at the collection points will be transported to plant in Shivalli village by using HDMC vehicles. The plant will process around 50 tonnes of debris every day, informed Talwar.
He added that the Department of Mines and Geology has come forward to fund the project.
“We have prepared a feasibility report and it was passed in the general body meeting recently. A proposal seeking the release of funds for the project would be sent to the department at the earliest. The government had asked all the corporations to set up these kind of plants. The Urban Development Ministry has asked all states to set up such facilities in the cities where population is more than 10 lakh,” he said.