The Mangalore City Corporation (MCC) has taken a move to sell the ‘city compost’ manufactured from municipal solid waste at its compost plant and landfill site at Pachchanady.

It has entered into a tripartite agreement with Mangalore Chemicals and Fertilisers (MCF) and Unique Waste Processing Company for the sale.

Speaking to mediapersons on Tuesday, Mayor Harinath said that the Government of India has chalked out a policy on promotion of city compost under Swaccha Bharath Mission. The policy aims to put an end to the problem of city waste, he stated.

“Under the policy, the government will provide market development assistance with an amount of Rs 1,500 for a tonne of city compost for scaling up production and sale of the product. With the MCC entering into an agreement with the company, the MCF will market the compost generated by Unique Waste Processing Company at Pachchanady solid waste management unit. The MCF will purchase the compost from Unique Waste Processing Company at Rs 2,500 a tonne and the Unique Waste Processing Company will pay Rs 1,000 a tonne to the MCC. The MCF will market the city compost under its brand name,” said MCC Commissioner Dr H N Gopalakrishna.

The commissioner said that, at present, 275 tonnes of solid waste from the city enters the Pachchanady solid waste management unit. After segregating the plastics, bottles and other dry wastes, the wet waste is used for production of bio compost. The Unique Waste Processing Company, which was entrusted with the responsibility of handling compost unit in Pachchanady in January 2014, has so far produced 3,420 tonnes of compost. On an average, the unit has been producing 400 tonnes of compost every month since November 2015, he added.

“Out of the 3,420 tonnes of compost, about 2,200 tonnes have been sold by the Unique Waste Processing Company. The firm was selling the compost for Rs 1,500 per tonne. Regardless of the sale of compost, the company had to pay a sum of Rs 1.46 lakh to the MCC every month,” said the Commissioner.

A letter from D P Srivastava, the Department of Fertilisers, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers Director, to the MCC, has instructed, “Initially, the marketing and promotion of city compost will be done through the existing fertiliser companies. In due course, compost manufacturers and other marketing entities recognised by the concerned state government may also be included for the purpose, with the approval of the Department of Fertilisers. Fertiliser companies and marketing entities will co-market city compost with the chemical fertilisers through their dealers network. The companies will also adopt villages for promoting the use of compost. Government departments and public sector undertakings will also use city compost to the extent possible for their horticulture and related use. The Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare will carry out IEC campaigns to educate farmers on the benefit of city compost. The Ministry of Urban Development will take steps to increase setting up of compost plants across all states. A joint mechanism will be set up by the Department of Fertilisers, Ministry of Urban Development and Department of Agriculture to monitor and facilitate availability of adequate quantity of city compost.”