Date:08/10/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/10/08/stories/2008100852970300.htm

Kerala - Kochi

Recycling plants for Kochi cleared

Staff Reporter

KOCHI: The proposal for setting up Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) and plastic recycling plants of the Kochi Corporation has been cleared by a technical committee constituted by the State government.

The committee, which met in Thiruvananthapuram on Monday, cleared the proposal and forwarded it to the civic body. These proposals need to be approved by the Kochi Corporation Council.

The plants are expected to solve the crisis regarding the management of the solid waste, including plastic waste generated by the city. At present, there is no system in Kochi for the management of the non-biodegradable waste and the civic body is finding it difficult to manage the refuse. The Corporation has been stocking the plastic refuse at all the available space in the city itself.

The expert committee consisted of the chief engineer of the Kerala State Pollution Control Board, director of the Clean Kerala Mission and head of the department of mechanical engineering of the Cochin University of Science and Technology.

The RDF and plastic recycling plants are to come up at the Brahmapuram plant site of the corporation.

The proposals for the RDF and the plastic recycling plants will come up for the consideration at the next Corporation Council meeting.

Once the Council approves them, the work orders will be issued, said Mini Antony, Secretary of the Corporation.

Proposal

For the RDF plant, the proposal of a Mumbai-based company has been accepted by the expert committee.

According to the proposal, the plant will have an installed capacity to convert 150 tonnes of refuse into fuel pellets.

After the installation of the plant, the Mumbai firm will train the staff of the Corporation for three months.

The expert committee is understood to have directed the civic body to make arrangements to entrust the operation and maintenance of the plant to the firm itself for one year.

The cost of the 150-tonne plant will work out to Rs. 2.41 crore. The firm has also agreed to complete the work before December 31.

The plastic recycling unit will cost the Corporation Rs. 24 lakh.