Thiruvananthapuram: The City Corporation is formulating plans for a decentralised solid waste management programme covering the capital city and five suburban panchayats. The proposal is part of the City Development Plan (CDP), which has been approved by the Union Government for assistance under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM).

The programme is to be taken up in the Kazhakuttam, Sreekaryam, Kudappanakkunnu, Vattiyoorkavu and Vizhinjam panchayats which are part of the urban agglomeration. All the five panchayats currently lack a proper mechanism to collect and dispose of garbage.

The programme involves a massive awareness campaign for treatment of waste at source. The campaign is to be pegged to the principle of four R's - Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Resource recovery. Households in the target area will be imparted training and provided equipment to take up vermi-composting, biogas production and aerobic or anaerobic composting.

The proposal also recommends integrated solid waste management plants for markets. Each plant will have a waste segregation facility, biogas plant and vermi-composting unit. The panchayats will also set up a collection facility for non-biodegradable waste which is to be sorted and sold for recycling. Ward-level units

The project document says the decentralised programme is aimed at reducing the quantum of waste at source and obviating the need for big, costly garbage processing plants that pollute the environment. It proposes ward-level vermi-composting units or biogas plants. Markets, slaughterhouses, schools and other such institutions are also to be equipped with biogas units that convert waste to energy.

The project highlights the need to augment the corporation's fleet of garbage trucks and equip it with a vehicle tracking and communication system to streamline the collection and transportation mechanism.

It also calls for establishing garbage transfer stations near slums, markets and institutions producing bulk waste. The waste received from dumper containers and from door-to-door collection teams will be transferred to bigger vehicles at these stations.

The CDP also stresses the need for a comprehensive bylaw for management of solid waste.

The bylaw is to be prepared as part of the project, taking into consideration the relevant provisions of the Municipal Solid Waste Management and Handling Rules.

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