Process them at the source - that’s the best way to recycle garbage. But, how to achieve this goal? We can not afford installing complicated garbage processing plants in every nook and corner of our cities and towns. The ever increasing quantity of accumulated waste is really a headache to the local governing bodies. The strategy adopted by the Kalamassery Municipality in Ernakulam District of Kerala is a practical model to solve the problem of domestic garbage.

The decentralized garbage processing plants based on the biological methods was the core idea of waste management in the Kalamassery Municipality. For this the support came from the Ministry of Non Conventional Energy.

Bio-gas Production

The biggest attraction of these domestic plants is the bio gas produced from it. This will help the family to reduce its LPG bill by 50 per cent. In this era of rocketing petroleum prices, garbage plants which are capable of providing fuel to the kitchen are really a boon. As the very first step, the Municipal authorities identified 73 beneficiaries for this project in Kalamasserry. And this local body provided Rs 4,000 each to every domestic plant to encourage them into this new venture. This money was provided from the plan fund of the Municipality. Rs. 2,700 each from the Ministry of Non Conventional Energy was also provided to this project. The plants were installed in the residential premises by Biotech, a nodal agency of the Ministry of Non-Conventional Energy Sources. This year the Municipality has identified 150 houses for installing this domestic garbage plant.

Functioning of these domestic garbage processing plants is based on the method of biological degradation. A bacteria culture is deposited in the storage area of the plant while commissioning. These bacteria work to degrade the waste materials put into the plant. Fish wastes, vegetable wastes, food left over from the house, water used for cleaning and preparation of food etc may be deposited in this plant. This may be done a maximum of two or three times a day. This when treated with the above method produces bio gas. This bio gas is passed through a special tube attached and provided to the burner installed in the kitchen. The waste produced by a four member family can generate bio-gas roughly for two hours. Heat energy produced is 75-80 per cent compared to the LPG. And in practical sense it is enough for domestic cooking purpose. The water remains in the plant after producing bio-gas is also useful. It may be used as bio-manure. Treating this water with a USAB digester will ensure that it meets the standards set by the pollution control board.

Kalamassery is the first Municipality in Kerala which came forward to implement this project with total involvement from the people. The District Panjayat of Ernakulam has already installed 3000 units of domestic garbage processing plant in various areas of the district. Kumbalangy—the Gram Panjayat selected as the model tourism village— is the panjayat which has commissioned maximum number of plants.

Handling Waste from Public Places

Other than the domestic plants, efforts are being made to use the same technology to handle waste from the public places also. The waste recycling plant commissioned at Kadakkal Gram Panjayat in Kollam District is an example for that. The plant set up with a cost of Rs 16 lakhs from the Kerala Development Project is used to handle the waste from the Kadakkal town, Kadakkal market and nearby areas.

Biomethane Gas

The waste is recycled here to produce electricity. It is having a capacity to recycle one tonne of degradable waste and to produce 3 Kilowatt electricity. This power is used to light 120 lamps in the nearby park, fire station and the Kadakkal memorial. Mainly fish and slaughter wastes are treated in this plant. The biomethane gas produced here is passed through bio-filters before reaching the power generator. A bio incinerator also is operated with the power generated here. It burns off the non-decomposed wastes.

No doubt, these decentralized waste recycling plants will be a boon to the thickly populated towns and cities. On the other hand steps to create awareness on reducing the creation of wastes also should be initiated by the local administrative bodies