Chennai grows and so do garbage mounds
Corporation yet to finalise waste management project.
Chennai: Technical experts from Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board and Anna University roped in by the city corporation to provide technical expertise on the ambitious project of generating power from tonnes of waste dumped in corporation dump yards have urged the civic body to rework on the project’s technical parameters.
“In 2005, Chennai corporation mooted zero waste management policy to dispose of hundreds of tonnes of waste generated in Greater Chennai. Twelve years have passed and waste generation has doubled from 2,500 tonnes to 5,400 tonnes per day, but no solution to handle it. Proposals for the generation of power from waste, manure from organic waste, bricks from solid waste and bio gas through plants were all discussed, but not a single proposal has moved forward”, said a corporation official who is now working with the Anna University technical committee to explore power generation from garbage.
At a recent meeting held at Ripon Buildings to discuss the waste management measures and to reduce the garbage load, the technical teams invited from Anna University and Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board expressed their views and the corrections are expected shortly, sources said.
Location Kodungaiyur
Extent area around 200 acres
Total number of years in use 30 years
Daily waste disposed 2100 to 2300 MT
Location Perungudi
Extent area around 200 acres
Number of years in use 25 years
Daily waste disposed 2,200 tons to
2,400 MT
It may be noted that this is not the first time that the project is subject to revision. The corporation has failed for the past few years in waste management, said environmental activist R. Govindaraj of Exnora International. The basic criteria for waste disposal should be source segregation. Until the waste is segregated as degradable and non-degradable, no major breakthrough can be attained in reducing the garbage mounds at Kodungaiyur and Perungudi, he said.