Chandigarh’s waste processing plant to go full throttle in three months
Currently, the plant in Chandigarh;s Sector 25 processes less than half of city’s daily wet waste, while the dry waste is not processed at all and is dumped at the Dadumajra landfill
After years in free fall, city’s solid waste processing management is finally getting back on track.
In three months, the city’s solitary, but long-inefficacious, solid waste processing plant in Sector 25 will start working at optimum capacity and city will also get a new dedicated horticulture plant.
On Tuesday, the Chandigarh municipal corporation finalised the firm that will work on repairing the solid waste processing plant at a cost of around ₹6 crore.
The city daily generates around 350 MT (metric tonnes) of wet waste and 200 MT of dry waste, most of which is dumped at the Dadumajra landfill near the plant without processing, leading to a mountain of decaying garbage.
While the plant manages around 150 TPD (tonnes per day) of wet waste, it does not process any dry waste at all.
City’s poor solid waste processing was among the primary reasons for its sharp slide from the 16th position in the 2020 Swachh Survekshan rankings to the 66th spot in 2021.
“After the upgrade of the plant, which is expected by October this year, 200 TPD of dry waste and 350 TPD of wet waste will be processed at the plant,” said MC commissioner Anindita Mitra.
The repair work includes replacement of conveyor belts, rollers, motors, gear box assemnly, primary shredder, trommel, cyclone dust collector, ID fan in dryer, rotary dryer, hot air generator, ballistic separator, trommel in wet waste and ETP plant. One secondary shredder is being replaced along with repair of other machinery.
MC had taken over the plant from a private firm in June 2020. Though there are also plans to set up a new integrated solid waste processing plant, it will take at least another two years. In the meantime, MC plans to meet the city’s solid waste processing needs through the existing plant.
City’s first horticulture plant
To come up at a cost of ₹3 crore, the horticulture waste processing plant will process 30-40 TPD at 3BRD, Chandigarh. Currently, even horticulture waste is being dumped in landfills.
“The plant will process the horticulture waste to produce briquettes and pallets that can be used as biocoal,” said Mitra.
Apart from cremation purposes, briquettes and pallets made from horticulture waste can also be sold to industrial units as fuel, thereby generating revenue.
The city generates, on average, 7 to 8 TPD of horticulture waste. This increases exponentially to over 80 TPD during autumn and spring when trees shed their leaves.