In an attempt to decentralise handling of organic waste and to prevent landfilling, the civic body plans to set up micro composting centres in each ward in the city. As a pilot project, the civic body has chosen one ward each in five zones to set up the centre.While a portion of the domestic waste is being segregated, much of it ends up in dump yards in the city without being segregated. A corporation official said the civic body is taking serious effort to ensure that waste is segregated and organic waste is turned into manure to prevent air, land and water pollution."The maximum capacity of each centre will be five tonnes, but we will not be using the entire capacity," the official said, hinting that the civic body is planning to increase the number of composting centres depending on the population of the wards.About Rs 50 lakh per centre was being allotted from the corporation fund. The official said that during the first phase, centres would be set up at Ukkadam, Saravanamapatti, Vilankurichi, Sokkampudhur and Uppilipalayam.Sources involved in the process said proven technology would be used to compost organic waste. It would be cut into minute pieces using a shredder, thus reducing the volume of waste and moisture in it.Once the moisture is removed from the waste, it will not emit a foul smell and attract flies, the sources said. The shredded waste will be put in 4-metre-high tanks.The civic body has decided to use 14 such tanks to compost the waste in each centre and the waste would be processed within 15 days. The sources said that about one tenth of the waste would become manure.The centres will be established on corporation land in each ward. The official said they had identified land in 65 wards and are in the process of identifying spots in the other wards."After the plants are set up, the public will have to segregate the waste before handing it over to sanitary workers. If they fail to segregate the waste we will stop collecting it," the official said, adding that all garbage bins in residential areas would be removed.Also, all multi-dwelling buildings, including hotels and apartments, were directed to do composting on their own as the volume of organic waste would be more than a tonne daily and they have enough space to do composting on their own, the official added.Apart from conserving the environment, we would also save money by setting up the decentralised composting centres, the official said. There are only a couple of composting plants where segregated organic waste is being taken for processing now. Transporting waste to the plants is not only cumbersome, but also expensive.

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