This plant gets rid of garbage the green way ……….Sukhada Tatke
Mumbai: Last week, the Bombay high court constituted a four-member committee to look into the feasibility of decentralising dumping of garbage in the city. The move comes at a time when the century-old Deonar dumping ground is gearing up for its partial closure and development of a scientific landfill. TOI visited a cost-effective garbage disposal plant at BARC developed by BARC scientist Dr Sharad Kale.
According to experts, the solution to the citys waste disposal woes lies in decentralisation of waste, and Dr Kales nature-friendly zero-garbage, zero-effluent plant, also known as Nisargruna. The plant has been developed on the concept of returning to nature what it has given to mankind in a way that is acceptable to nature.
Burning garbage is not the answer to getting rid of it. It has to be disposed of in the right manner, in a method that does not cause any further harm to environment that is already under threat, says Kale. We should remember the law of conservation. We are aware that nothing can be created in this world or destroyed. There is only change in form. If we accept that, we will realise that waste is not a problem but a part of life, Kale adds.
Currently, there are 46 such units set up in India39 in Maharashtra, one each in Karnataka, Gujarat, Orissa and four in Kerala. In Mumbai, it is being used at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (Colaba), Tata Thermal Power (Chembur), Tata Consultancy Services (Thane), Hiranandani Estate, Thane, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Chembur and so on. In fact, Kalmashewar, Matheran, Pandharpur, Sawantwadi, Katol, Kagal, Panvel, Pen, Chiplun urban local bodies have implemented this technology. Matheran Municipal Council has also been running the plant.
The plant, set up at a small place, deals with segregating garbage at the source and then decomposing the garbage with the use of microbes. The plants handle waste up to five tonnes. Bio-degradable waste
is first segregated and then made into a slurry. Tiny particles get degraded quicker. The slurry is then sent to a pre-digestor where degradation takes place in aerobic conditions for 72-96 hours. The slurry is then sent to the main digestor where degradation takes place in anaerobic conditions, said scientist Shubhada Nayak.
Slowly, methane is generated which is then used for various purposes. Soon, the remaining slurry goes to the last pitch where water gets released and manure is created. Energy and manure are the added advantages of the plant, other than its basic function of being a waste treatment plant, she added.
So self-sufficient are the places that use the plant, that methane takes care of almost all kitchen use, instead of LPG.
Even as the high court has directed the BMC to check the feasibility of decentralisation along the lines of these plants, civic officials said that decentralisation of waste
cannot entirely replace the scientific landfill system. Decentralisation can only supplement the big sanitary landfill projects. Theres hardly any space in this congested city. It is the obligation of the local governing bodies to take care of transportation and waste processing. If there is just decentralisation, there will be a problem regarding who will operate at the local level and so on, said R A Rajeev, additional municipal commissioner.
