3 mini Material Recovery Facilities to come up in Dakshina Kannada

Three mini Material Recovery Facilities (MRF) will come up in Dakshina Kannada, in addition to the work on the MRF that is in progress at Thenka Edapadavu, in Mangaluru taluk.

The mini MRFs will come up in Ujire, Bantwal taluk and Puttur taluk, to cover a few Gram Panchayats in these taluks. These mini MRFs will process five tonnes of dry waste daily. The mini MRFs will be set up at a cost of Rs 2 crore each, said Zilla Panchayat CEO Dr Kumar to DH.

He said about 30 per cent of the work on the MRF that can manage 10 tonnes of dry waste per day at Thenka Edapadavu in Mangaluru taluk has been completed and it will be ready for use in a couple of months.

The MRF at Thenka Edapadavu will cater to 43 Gram Panchayats. The dry waste, consisting mainly of low-density and high-density polyethylene and polypropylene materials will be segregated and sent for recycling, he added.

In fact, the government had proposed to set up an MRF under the Swachh Bharat Mission in four places including in Dakshina Kannada district. The facility in Udupi had begun functioning from Nitte recently. The third MRF was to come up in Ramanagaram and the fourth MRF in Ballari. The MRF will reduce the burden of dry waste segregation at Gram Panchayats besides adding value to dry waste.

Presently, the Gram Panchayats segregate dry waste at their solid waste management facility using manual labour and later sell it to scrap dealers. Once the MRF and mini MRFs are set up, the processed waste at the facility will directly reach the end-user for recycling.

The MRFs will help in making segregated waste collection and composting of biodegradable waste at the village level through decentralisation, along with aggregation of plastic waste at the mini MRFs, to increase recycling of plastic waste and reduce pollution caused due to improper waste disposal. It would also work towards dignified livelihood generation by creating new job opportunities where people work towards a clean and hygienic environment, said sources.