Chandigarh MC to start mixed waste segregation with new plant at Dadumajra dump by Nov-end
Currently, after the door-to-door collection, the collectors drop the waste at three MRF centres in the city for manual segregation; from MRF centres, the segregated waste is taken to processing plants
Chandigarh municipal corporation (MC) is set to segregate mixed waste into dry and wet wastes, with an automated municipal solid waste segregation plant, at the Dadumajra dumping ground by the end of this month.
The civic body collects around 500 tonnes of waste daily, of which around 300 tonnes is wet waste, including horticulture waste, while the remaining is dry waste. According to MC officials, 100% waste is being collected door-to-door from households in four categories: dry, wet, sanitary and domestic hazardous waste.
However, with different wet and dry waste processing plants in place, the MC is able to process only 430 tonnes of waste per day (TPD), leading to a gap of nearly 70 TDP (mixed waste) between generation and processing. Therefore, this garbage is getting dumped at the Dadumajra landfill daily, without processing.
Currently, after the door-to-door collection, the collectors drop the waste at three MRF centres in the city for manual segregation. From MRF centres, the segregated waste is taken to processing plants.
Being set up at a cost of ₹5.22 crore, the project was approved by the MC House in June this year.
“We aim to set up the plant by November 15 and start the waste segregation by the end of this month,” said MC officials.
As per MC officials, despite a combination of adequate labour and capital intensive waste management efforts to achieve 100% segregation of waste at source, approximately 70 TPD of mix/unsegregated waste is being collected daily, the manual segregation of which is not possible.
Though processing of legacy waste is 90% completed, the daily dumping of unprocessed waste has increased in Dadumajra in the past few months, due to which the civic body will face challenges for cleaning the Dadumajra site by December this year.
It is pertinent to mention that the MC has already approved a project to set up a new integrated waste management plant in Dadumajra. Aimed at effectively tackling the city’s daily waste generation of 550 metric tonnes (MT), the new plant, with a capacity of 600 tonnes per day, is proposed to comprise three facilities – one each for dry, wet and horticulture waste. Spread over 20 acres, it will be set up on a part of the Dadumajra landfill after clearing the area. As per current proposal, the project will be allotted for a total of 17 years, including two years for construction and 15 years for operation and maintenance. Though the project has been approved, the MC is yet to allot it to a private firm.
