Hotels to have plants to manage waste

Chennai: With waste management in the spotlight after the Chennai Corporation cleared 1.47 lakh tonnes of garbage in two weeks post monsoon, the local body has asked hotels in the city to start processing kitchen waste they generate.

At a meeting headed by Corporation Commissioner Vikram Kapur and TN Pollution Control Board (PCB) chairman K. Skandan, representatives of hotels and eateries in the non-star category were told to set up waste processing plants within their premises.

However, as hoteliers claimed that it was practically not feasible to ask every hotel to set up a waste treating facility, the officials asked them to form cluster groups and set up a facility where waste can be processed in a scientific manner.

“The idea is to have one facility in each zone. The Corporation and the TNPCB will lend technology support and will also bear any preparatory expenditure to get this done. But the cost of the equipment and the operational expenses will have to be borne by the hoteliers”" a senior official said.

The treatment plant design is likely to be borrowed from the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre while officials added that experts from IIT-Madras too will be roped into the project. “The hotels will be free to split and use the byproduct from the plants, whether it be bio-gas or electricity,” an official said.

If the trial run is successful, the Corporation has plans to insist high rise apartment dwellers in the city too set up similar processing plants or a compost yard within their premises.

To begin with, the local body is in the process of preparing a list of licensed hotels in the city while sources added that a second meeting too will be held soon, where the star category and luxury hotel representatives will be called in to attend.