Recycling of poultry and fish waste faces obstacles

TIRUCHI

Tiruchi Corporation’s initiative to recycle poultry and fish waste disposed off by the meat and seafood stalls has fallen flat due to challenges in collecting and transporting the waste.

According to the Corporation officials, the Dindigul-based recycling firm that was roped in to receive, transport and process the chicken and fish waste faces challenges in collecting the waste from the 33 micro compost yards in the city.

The company that offered to take the waste free of cost collects it every evening. “Collecting the waste bins from all the centres and transporting them to the recycling unit in Dindigul is a difficult task considering the number of bins,” said a sanitary supervisor.

The civic body is considering the feasibility of gathering all the bins in one location so that the firm can collect them from a single point.

The initiative to process meat and fish waste generated from fish markets, and chicken and meat stalls was launched last year. The waste is recycled as feed for fish grown in inland aqua farms.

The recycling initiative was implemented in the wake of the civic body receiving several complaints regarding the dumping of meat waste in waterbodies, on the roadsides, and in empty plots by the vendors. “A section of stalls who miss to hand over the waste at the micro compost centres, dump it at vacant sites and waterbodies, polluting the area,” he added.

The firm has provided about 150 bins to store the waste being collected at the micro compost centres. Shops were strictly instructed to bring the waste and dispose it in the bins kept at the centres.