CHENNAI: In a move to curb the stench from garbage trucks and prevent waste from spilling on roads, the Greater Chennai Corporation will deploy 48 closed waste container trucks to ferry waste. In the first phase, they will be deployed in Royapuram and Thiru Vi Ka Nagar zones from June.
Speaking to DT Next, a GCC official said the closed containers would help arrest stench and spillage during transportation. Each container can hold 15 to 20 tonnes of waste. The containers are expected to be ready by the end of May, with operations set to begin in the first week of June. The facility is the first of its kind in Tamil Nadu, following a similar system introduced in Hyderabad.
This will offer relief to residents of Sathiyamoorthi Nagar, Mullai Nagar, Kodungaiyur, Vyasarpadi and other neighbourhoods in Tondiarpet, Moolakadai and Tiruvottiyur, through which waste from eight zones is currently transported to the Kodungaiyur dump yard.
A spokesperson for Chennai Enviro Solutions Private Limited, which handles solid waste management in the two zones, said the closed containers would be deployed to transport waste from transfer stations to landfills or processing sites. The containers are airtight, preventing odour from escaping. With a capacity of 24 cubic metres, each can carry up to 19 metric tonnes of waste in a single trip.
The spokesperson said the higher-capacity containers would also improve efficiency by reducing the number of trips. While existing 8-cubic-metre refuse compactors carry about 5 metric tonnes per trip and 14-cubic-metre compactors carry up to 10 metric tonnes, the new 24-cubic-metre containers can transport up to 19 tonnes.
GCC Commissioner J Kumaragurubaran said the cylindrical container system would be expanded to the remaining zones, for which preparatory work was already under way.
Even as he welcomed the move, TK Shanmugam, president, Federation of North Chennai Resident Welfare Association, said the measure was not a permanent solution and urged the corporation to pursue a zero-waste approach as an alternative to the proposed waste-to-energy incineration plant at Kodungaiyur, and to set up more composting centres and decentralised biogas units across the city instead of transporting it across the residential areas.
The residents also alleged that vehicles fully loaded with waste were often not properly covered, leading to accidents.