Niravu to tackle flood waste

Kozhikode: Disposing of the huge waste that has piled up after the floods is a Herculean task, but Niravu, the organisation that has specialised in waste management, has a simple solution. It says that if segregated properly, the entire waste can be removed within a few weeks.

“There are two types of wastes, biodegradable and non- biodegradable, in which managing biodegradable waste is a simple task,” said Mr Babu Parambath, project officer of Niravu. But the non- biodegradable wastes like plastics, flex, cupboards, glass pieces and mattresses have to be managed well at the earliest. Plastic waste can be recycled and the rest could be used for other purposes or burnt.

Hundreds of sacks of non- biodegradable waste have been collected from various parts of the district by the Niravu team. One load each of waste, which is more than 350 sacks, was collected from Kannadikkal-Vengeri regions, which were among the worst affected in the floods. Various panchayats are segregating the waste, which can be recycled easily.

The Niravu recycling plant at Westhill has a capacity to manage over four tonnes of waste at a time. The plant in Karnataka is bigger and hence can recycle over 30 tonnes of waste. “If segregation is done fast, we can clear all the plastic waste in the district and later in other districts. Based on the request from the Wayanad district administration, we collected waste from the Munderi panchayat. Waste is being cleared from other parts of the district also,” he added.

Niravu has been clearing the waste from Canoly canal and will complete the ‘Operation Canoly canal’ project in seven days. "The canal is being cleaned systematically after 40 years," said Mayor Thottathil Raveendran.