Govt directs municipalities to devise means of processing waste

Kolkata: The Municipal Affairs department has directed all municipalities in the state to devise means of waste processing facility (WPF) through which wet and dry waste can be processed separately.

The WPF system would be run by professional agencies through their own manpower and in most cases, the facilities would be set up by the agencies themselves. "The municipalities have started developing such infrastructure in their best possible manner. We have recently organised a conference with around 100 housing complexes and have urged them to take measures for segregating and processing of wet and dry waste," said Subrata Gupta, Principal Secretary of state Municipal Affairs department.

The Kolkata Municipal Corporation has already called a tender for roping in an agency that will do separate processing of dry and wet waste. The Howrah Municipal Corporation has come up with a decentralised organised waste converter by signing an agreement with five housing complexes while the Joynagar — Majilpur municipality in South 24-Parganas has already started a biogas plant.

There are many technologies available for processing of waste. The agencies that will be selected through Request for Proposal (RFP) would use the technology of their choice and the municipality will pay them against the amount of waste they process and convert.

The municipalities have been supplied with 10 lakh bins already with the aim of waste segregation at source. The municipalities are supplying two bins of separate colours to each household so that people can dump dry waste and wet waste separately. The wet waste or kitchen waste can be converted into compost while the dry waste that includes plastic, metal, glass etc can be recycled.

"We have floated tender for 30 lakh more bins," a senior official of the department said.

The WPF would have plant for processing of the residual dry waste. Plastic and other materials that are not picked up for recycling at the transfer stations can be converted into Reuse Derived Fuel (RDF) that may be used in cement plants for generation of heat or burnt for the generation of electricity.

The material that cannot be converted into compost or gas or RDF or the residue from the different processes would be dumped into a sanitary landfill site.

The wet waste may be converted into compost rich in plant nutrients, that may be sold to farmers or it can be converted into biogas which may be packed and sold as fuel or may be used for generation of power.

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has given a year's time to the state government for developing a system of proper disposal and management of solid waste with mounds of waste accumulating in the dumpsites in the state.