City drafts Rs 100 cr plan on new waste processing facilities

According to a Chennai Corporation official, incineration plants would come up at 10 places in the city, with a total processing capacity of 100 tonnes. “However, we are yet to identify the locations for these plants. The plants will incinerate non-recyclable dry waste, including cloths, leather, rubber and others,” the official said.

The civic body would spend Rs 95.30 crore to set up the incineration plants. Meanwhile, the civic body is already trial running an incineration plant in Manali with a capacity of 10 tonnes using funds generated from Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) scheme.

Explaining the safety measures considered for setting up the incineration plants, the official said that the non-recyclable dry waste would be burnt at a temperature of 1,000 degree Celsius. This would generate two to three per cent residue, which could be used for making paver blocks.

“We will install filtering units as per the norms laid down by Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board and only white smoke without chemical content would be let out,” he said.

Of around 5,000 tonnes of garbage generated in the city every day, 25 to 30 per cent is non-recyclable dry waste.

Apart from the incineration plants, the civic body has also prepared a proposal to set up material recovery centres in four locations at a cost of Rs 9 Crore. “Already we have material recovery centres in 12 places and resource recovery centres in 184 places. But all of them are functioning with a smaller capacity,” the officials said.

The official added that the newly proposed material recovery centres would be bigger in capacity in which about 200 tonnes of waste could be processed. The civic body uses the material and resource recovery centres to segregate reusable and recyclable items from the garbage.

Presently, the civic body has a composting capacity of around 400 tonnes of wet waste every day. Apart from mulching pits in parks, there are more than 200 composting plants are functioning inthe city.

In a move to provide safer environment to the city women, the Greater Chennai Corporation has decided to set up She Toilets – exclusive toilets for women – across the city using the Nirbhaya Fund sanctioned by the Government of India.

According to a Chennai Corporation official, the She Toilets would have safety features including hooter alarm and sensor-based facilities. “The toilets will have kiosks from which women can get sanitary products,” the official said.

The State and central governments have allocated Rs 425 crore to implement the women safety initiatives under ‘Safe City Project’ in Chennai. Of the total fund, the Centre has released 60 per cent while the State government would provide the remaining 40 per cent.

The official added that 150 seats would come in public places and slum areas at a cost of around Rs 8 crore. “As per the norms, there should be one public toilet at every 20-metre interval. This norm is followed worldwide, with the requirement increasing to one public toilet every 100 metres in commercial streets. We are trying to achieve the target,” he explained.

Apart from this, the civic body would also erect ‘smart poles’ that would be equipped with CCTV cameras, emergency call box and lights with the grant. The city police has already constituted ‘Pink Brigade’ to protect women from harassment and abuse.

The civic body is also mapping crime zones where crime against women is recurrent. Women entering the crime zone would receive caution alerts on their smartphones. However, these projects would take a few months to be implemented.

Presently, the Corporation maintains more than 850 public toilets across the city with a total seating the capacity of around 6,700. These are marked on Google Maps, enabling users to find the location and direction to the nearest facility.