Pune to take cue from B’lore waste disposal method

Speaking to The Indian Express,Mushrif said he has convened a meeting on June 23 to discuss the model and study its viability in Pune. “I will hold a meeting on June 23,after the Assembly session,to study the recommended model,” Mushrif said.

The method comprises extraction of water from the wet waste,which is then powdered at high temperature after the removal of glass and plastic. The powder is converted into white coal that can be put to industrial use,Bapat said.

Sunrays Compost managing director Vaman Acharya,who had helped the Bangalore Municipal Corporation (BMC) implement this process,said he needed wet waste and around five acres of land to carry out the process.

“It’s a tried and tested method and the civic body has implemented it successfully. It is economical,environment-friendly and a long term solution to the garbage problem. In turn this gives us coal,which is an important source of fuel,” said Acharya.

PMC corporator Vikas Matkari who has put up this method before the municipal corporation several times said this is a business model,which will definitely be long lasting.

“Short-term methods are plenty but this could help us get coal from waste,” he said.

Bapat said he would take up this issue with the minister so that the problem of garbage dumping is resolved forever.

Villagers from the dumping sites of Urali Devachi and Phursungi had protested against the dumping of garbage in their villages,alleging that it was posing health hazards there. Even as the collector has promised that dumping of garbage will cease in seven months time,alternative methods are being looked at.

Nearly 1,250 tonnes of garbage come to the site everyday.