KV Navya By Express News Service CHENNAI: In another major step towards the Greater Chennai Corporation’s (GCC) goal of zero-waste by the end of this year, the civic body has embarked on a pilot project to provide an incineration plant for dry waste, at Zone 2 in Manali. It is expected to come up in a month. “We are looking for CSR funds to construct this incineration plant, according to Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) norms at the cost of Rs 40 lakh. The plant will convert dry waste into ash that would be used to build concrete blocks,” said a senior official from GCC. Small zone, big benefits Manali is the smallest zone with seven wards that generate about 60 metric tonnes of garbage daily. Of that, 30 metric tonnes is wet waste which is being sent to the local compost centres, and about ten metric tonnes is recyclable waste that is sold to private players. The rest of it is sent to the yard in the zone and that is where the GCC is planning on setting up the plant. “The plant will incinerate about 10 metric tonnes of dry waste per day and produce nearly 200 blocks per day. One metric tonne generates nearly 10 kilograms of ash. So, at the end of the year, 70,000-75,000 concrete blocks would be produced that would be further used for road laying projects,” said the official. Similar project is being planned at Zone 3 in Madhavaram. With a decentralised approach, all the areas will be covered within a couple of months. Efforts reap results According to official data available with the GCC, 4,515 metric tonnes (MT) of garbage including 2,046 MT to Kodungaiyur dumping yard and 2,469 MT to Perungudi dumping yard has been collected from June 1-June 7. With the city’s average garbage collection of 5,275 MT, the number has come down drastically. GCC officials say about 40 per cent of households in the city have started segregating waste. “About 400-odd metric tonnes of wet waste is being sent to the composting centres. Private players lift dry waste as and when we take it to resource recovery centres. After salvaging there, we send the rest of the garbage to the dump yard,” he said. The civic body is expecting to bring down the average waste to 3,000 metric tonnes by August. “By December, not a single gram of wet waste will go to the dumping yard because it will all be locally digested in almost 4,000 different locations in Chennai,” said an official.

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