The Hindu : Karnataka News : Pachchanady units yet to be commissioned

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Wednesday, Nov 21, 2007
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Karnataka

Karnataka

Pachchanady units yet to be commissioned

Raviprasad Kamila

Once done, disposal of solid waste will become environment friendly

A BOON: The solid waste compost plant at Pachchanady on the outskirts of Mangalore.

MANGALORE: The practice of handling solid waste (garbage) generated daily in the limits of Mangalore City Corporation will become environment friendly once a solid waste processing unit and a modern scientific sanitary land fill project, which have come up at Pachchanady, are commissioned.

The Karnataka Urban Infrastructure and Development Finance Corporation (KUIDFC) has implemented these projects for the city corporation under the Karnataka Urban Infrastructure Development and Coastal Environment Management Project (KUDCEMP). The KUIDFC is yet to hand them over to the corporation, sources in the corporation told The Hindu.

When the solid waste processing unit also called as compost plant is commissioned, the practice of dumping waste in the open yard at Pachchanady will be stopped. The waste will be dumped in the plant covered on the top. After allowing the waste for de-composition, the degradable and non-degradable waste will be segregated using a machine. The inert waste such as plastics, metals, glass pieces separated from the original waste will be transported to the scientific sanitary land fill site and dumped there.

In the compost plant, the organic waste and wet waste will be converted into compost and stored. A portion of the organic waste will be used for vermi-composting. The plant has a provision for vermi-composting. The compost produced will be sold.

The scientific sanitary landfill site has a layer of compacted clay with a thickness of 900 mm at the bottom. On top of this, a high density polyethylene has been spread out. Above this, there is a layer of sand. Perforated lechete (liquid oozing from rotting mass) pipes each of 200 mm diameter are laid above the sand layer.

Inert materials which will not react will be dumped on this. The pipes will carry lechete from the heap of inert waste to two settling tanks constructed downstream. These tanks work as treatment units for liquid collected from rotting mass. When liquid gets diluted to the level fixed by the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board, it will be let out. A drain has been dug around this site to prevent the flow of rainwater to the site, the sources said.

At present, solid waste collected from the city is being dumped in a 23.4-acre open yard at Pachchanady. The corporation is following controlled tipping method in dumping the waste. Under this method, waste is heaped into a hillock at a convenient slope and capped with suing clay, soil and compost.

The capping is being done whenever the height of the waste reaches 12 metres. After it adopted this method, foul smell emanating from the yard has been reduced substantially, the sources said.

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