Kumbakonam Municipality's waste recycling model brings national laurels

THANJAVUR: The Kumbakonam Municipality (KM), a premier municipal body in Thanjavur district, has become a model for recycling of solid wastes. With two lakh tonnes of solid wastes collected over a period of years sent for recycling, KM has become the first in the country to do so and its model has been discussed at the conference of 500 district collectors from all over India and all state municipal commissioners conference at Delhi, according to K. Umamaheswari, municipal commissioner of Kumbakonam.

“Our model has been included as a model for emulation in the Swachh Bharat scheme” said the commissioner on Thursday. Solid wastes collected from houses, marriage halls and hotels in 45 wards in Kumbakonam municipality are dumped at the compost yard at Theperumanallur near Kumbakonam. 

The yard has been functioning for the past 23 years and in the yard on an area of 25 acres, solid wastes are heaped on ten acres. Solid waste management remained a challenge and there were frequent fires in the yard creating problems for public. It was decided in the year 2015 to recycle the solid wastes and accordingly a private company was employed to do the job.

The company, ‘Zigma Global Environ Solutions’, employed 80 workers and used machines to segregate wastes into polythene bags, gunnies, coconut shells, rubbers, chappals, tyres, coir, iron etc.

Segregated polythene bags were sent to other states for recycling, coconut shells to brick kilns, rubbers and chappals to chappal factories, iron to iron ore companies. Soil collected has been used as fertiliser for fields.