Civic body finishes task of establishing micro compost centres in Tiruchi

TIRUCHI

With the opening of the 40 th micro compost centre (MCC) at Piratiyur, an entry point to the city for vehicles from Manapparai and Dindigul, the Tiruchi City Corporation has completed the task of covering almost all areas of the city under the decentralised waste management and processing system.

It was with the aim of disposing off solid wastes in the very areas where they are being generated that the Corporation introduced the decentralised waste management system about six years ago. Taking a cue from the successful implementation of the system in Vellore Corporation, the officials replicated it in Tiruchi then. The city’s first MCC was established at Pookollai in Ariyamangalam in August 2016 on a pilot basis.

The civic body appointed members of Self Help Groups (SHG) to man the yard. A mini load carrier was allotted to transport the waste collected from the households of Ariyamangalam to the micro compost yard. The SHG members were tasked with segregating the solid waste into degradable and non-degradable. While biodegradable waste was processed to prepare organic manure, the non-degradable wastes were further segregated into recyclable and non-recyclable items. Recyclable items were sold and the non-recyclable materials transported to the Ariyamangalam dump yard.

Since it proved to be a success, two more micro compost centres were opened, one near Yatri Nivas in Srirangam and the other along Birds Road in Cantonment. Though, it did not find acceptance among the locals, as they thought the MCCs would degrade the environment in their localities, the civic body went ahead with the system and decided to bring all 65 wards in five zones of the Corporation under the MCC coverage.

With the opening of a new MCC at Piratiyur by Minister for Municipal Administration K.N. Nehru, the number of MCCs in the city has gone up to 40. The MCCs have been set up on the sites owned by the Corporation in different parts of the city. Each MCC covers a maximum of two wards each.

“We have completed the task of setting up of MCCs in the city and we have brought under all five zones of the Corporation under the coverage of MCC. There is no scope for establishing more MCCs,” said R. Vaithinathan, Commissioner, Tiruchi Corporation.

According to a rough estimate, the city generates about 470 metric tonnes of waste per day. Before the introduction of decentralised solid management system, the entire garbage was transported and dumped in the Ariyamangalam dump yard. The MCCs had helped to dispose about 70% of the garbage.