Mayor Sandesh Swamy, MCC Commissioner K S Raykar and Deputy Mayor Pushpalatha Jagannath accompanied a group of stree-shakthi members to the Excel Plant in Sewage Farm in Vidyaranyapuram, where the solid waste collected from all parts of the city, is segregated.
Average garbage
On an average around 350 to 400 tonnes of garbage is generated daily in the city against the capacity of the Excel plant calculated at 250 tonnes.
There are dedicated staff at the plant who segregate sold waste as degradable and non-degradable and send it for further process.
The non-degradable items such as plastic and glass are found in plenty at the plant which would be dumped at a corner of the plant on which small gardens would be developed thus giving it a different look. The mayor said, Rs 11 crore is available under JnNURM scheme for land filling programme and it would be used for this purpose.
Tenders
The MCC will be inviting fresh tenders in packages and stree shakthi groups could bid for the same. Already, zero waste management has been taken up on an experimental basis in four wards and it is also fetching a good income.
Selling price
For instance, plastic is sold at Rs eight per kg, while paper and other degradable materials are sold at Rs six per kg and compost manure at Rs 1,800 per tonne.
Interestingly, in one of the wards, four to five stree shakthi groups are managing all these activities. Later, the members interacted with the employees of Excel plant.