MCT works for zero waste in temple city

TIRUPAT: In an effort to move towards zero waste, the civic body of Tirupati is all set to promote on-site wet waste composting units in the backyards of households to spearhead the concept of producing organic manure from domestic wet waste and make the city defecation free. 

In a bid to seed this culture in the city, the Municipal Corporation of Tirupati (MCT) earlier made it mandatory to set up onsite composting units for bulk generators like hotels, restaurants, marriage halls and even for some government establishments such as the Indian Railways, APSRTC and other establishments.

At present the city has been generating nearly 120 tonnes of wet garbage and it is difficult for the civic body to segregate and manage it. Acting as per the guidelines given by the ministry of environment, in the first phase, the MCT started conducting awareness meetings with about 50 identified bulk garbage generators who produce over 100 kg of wet wastage per day. 

They were informed to make their own arrangements for clearing wet waste by installing onsite composting units, and this produced good results. 

In addition, the MCT also established two onsite compost machines at the Indira Priyadars-hini vegetable market and in the Rythu Bazaar at a cost of '8 lakh.

Buoyed with the positive outcome of the bulk generators, the MCT has now embarked on home composting for further improvement of urban sanitation in the temple city. To begin with, the MCT first advised its employees to take up home composting at their residences and seeded this into the city. 

After the success of this move, the MCT has now roped in women’s SHGs and NGOs in the city to motivate and train citizens to opt for home compost. The MCT plans to extend this culture to nearly 5,400 homes in the first phase that will begin from January 1 next year. The civic body has decided to provide a buy back facility for the compost produced at residences.

Speaking to the media, MCT commissioner Mr V. Vijay Ramaraju said that the MCT plans to implement four components like segregation of wastage, plastic ban, ban on open urination and ban on defecation at open places, in a bid to transform the temple city into the cleanest city and score a high rank at the national level in Swachh. 

"The MCT has successfully implemented the first three components and got a positive outcome in improving sanitation in the city, which prompted us to take up the fourth component for achieving better sanitation and make the city Open Defecation Free Plus (ODF+). 

In this regard, the MCT is now promoting the culture of setting up on-site wet wastage composting units at commercial establishments as well as households," Mr Vijaya Ramaraju explained.