Udupi (The Hindu): To deal with increase in garbage collection, the Udupi City Municipal Council (CMC) has started constructing a second inertisation yard to process it at the Solid Waste Management Plant at Alevoor village, near here.

The city generates about 68 tonnes of garbage daily. The garbage collected from different parts of the city is taken to the Solid Waste Management Plant at Alevoor for processing.

Though there was an inertisation yard at Alevoor, this was found to be inadequate. Hence, the municipal council has started the construction of a new inertisation yard which is 88 metres by 18 metres. This is located next to the existing yard.

According to Raghavendra K., CMC Environment Engineer, the mixed waste, including both wet and dry, is put in a form of heap and microbial culture is sprayed on it so that the process of bio-degradation started. The heap is turned once every six or seven days and treated with microbial spray during every turn. This is done for six-seven weeks.

“In the first week, about 50% to 60% of leachate comes out. At the end of the sixth or seventh week, the waste is almost dry and the volume is less. The dried waste is then sieved through either 35 mm sieve, 16 mm sieve or 4 mm sieve. Whatever waste is less than 4 mm, is manure. The rest of the dry waste is disposed of through land filling,” he said.

While the construction of the new inertisation yard is expected to be completed by the end of March, the procurement of compost processing machines of 90 tonne capacity is expected to take a little longer as it is dependent on the funds provided under the Swachh Bharat Mission.

“Once the second inertisation yard is ready to function, it would help in faster disposal of garbage. We expect the yard to start functioning by the end of May,” said D. Manjunathaiah, municipal commissioner.