Andhra Pradesh - Vijayawada   

VMC takes green initiative

VIJAYAWADA: For the first time in the city, a unique concept of bio-mining is being used to clear garbage heaps that have accumulated for years at the Municipal Solid Waste dumping yard at Shriram Energy Systems site on the outskirts of the city.

The Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC), as a pilot project, gave the contract to a private company to take up the task. The firm would undertake bio-mining of the garbage mounds to make manure out of the waste at the 5-acre site. It has lined up backhoes and excavators, and sieves to commence the work. The works are likely to begin from Friday.

The Corporation has agreed to allow the firm to sell the compost available from the site. The contract was given to the firm on the condition that it would have to cap the uncovered site with soil. The firm hopes that most of the solid waste would be mined for manure.

While the biodegradable waste gets mined and sieved to prepare the manure, the non-biodegradable waste will be kept aside for appropriate management at a later date, officials say. The huge mounds of garbage dumped without segregating the biodegradable and non-biodegradable waste posed severe environmental pollution. With the locals stiffly opposing the garbage dumping and political parties launching agitations, dumping was shifted to Pathapadu village a year ago.

After further dumping was stopped and the site abandoned, the focus remained on how the accumulated waste could be cleared. Apart from causing apprehensions among residents of a horde of colonies that sprang in the vicinity, the solid waste mounds had also been a cause for worry. The people under the aegis of Left parties waged a prolonged struggle to shift the dumping yard to Pathapadu.

The city generates about 550 tonnes of garbage daily. Of this, more than 300 tonnes is generated from households, which come through dumper bins placed at vantage points.

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