Kochi | Waste Disposal and Cleanliness

[sree_ec]

Wherenever I used to pass through Kalamassery near Appollo tyres I used to get foul smell.. and I used to see a huge pile of waste dumped near the NH. I always wonder what it is... is it some treatment plant?

[Kochi Resident]

No it is not a treatment plant. It is just that waste has been dumped in a vacant area

Originally Posted by sree_ec

Wherenever I used to pass through Kalamassery near Appollo tyres I used to get foul smell.. and I used to see a huge pile of waste dumped near the NH. I always wonder what it is... is it some treatment plant?

[sree_ec]

Originally Posted by Kochi Resident

No it is not a treatment plant. It is just that waste has been dumped in a vacant area

what a location they have identified. A good way to say "Welcome to Kochi"

[sree_ec]

Bhumika all praises for Kochi


Bhumika Chawla, who was in Kochi recently for a fashion event, feels that the city is the cleanest she has ever come across. "I don't know whether it's because I'm comparing it to Mumbai or Hyderabad, but it's definitely clean. People here are very chilled out and it is peaceful and comfortable," says the actress.

She was pleasantly surprised to find that Kochiites remembered the song Munbe Vaa still. "I stepped out for something and a group of people started humming the song. I was impressed, I never knew the song was this famous."

Bhumika has acted in the Malayalam film Bhramaram, opposite Mohanlal but says her connection with Malayalam films ends there. "I haven't watched much of Malayalam but it was a fantastic experience acting with Mohanlal. Everything comes naturally to him, and it was a learning experience, acting with him."

Her best memory of Kerala, however, was a shoot for Bhramaram, where they had to stand in the water at the Athirappally waterfalls for a whole day. "It was a stunning sight, and we actually saw a rainbow being formed."

[mohammedirshad06]

Originally Posted by sree_ec

Wherenever I used to pass through Kalamassery near Appollo tyres I used to get foul smell.. and I used to see a huge pile of waste dumped near the NH. I always wonder what it is... is it some treatment plant?

The site is a landfill, as Kalamassery donot have waste management facility. The poor Muncipality is forced to dump its waste there, as Kochi Corporation donot allow to use Brahmapuram facility.

Thats the real problem of Kochi. We don't have one Kochi City with all centralized urban facilities, rather we have 20 medium sized Kochi towns....

Unless we have centralized authority that take up all these works, things will get like this

[DileepKS]

The stink has become a bigg problem.

It is like the "who farted?" question. Mayor and co (who just takes the graft) says it is not the waste processing plant. They say that it is from a rice processing plant, where the water from parboiling is let out.

BULLSHIT, I say!!! I know how the parboil water smells. I also know how garbage dumps smell. If it smells like $hit, it must be $hit.

Anyway, todays rag says a task force is formed by the PCB. Let us see how it goes.

[mohammedirshad06]

Kochi to get Biomedical waste treatment Facility

In an attempt to get rid of the accumulating biomedical waste that is posing health threat to residents, the Kochi-chapter of the confederation of real estate developers' associations of India (Credai) will set up a biomedical waste treatment and disposal facility.

This is being undertaken in association with the Indian Medical Association (Kochi) and is part of the Credai Clean City initiative.

According to the plan, Credai will provide the land required for the 'Indian Medical Association Goes Eco Friendly' (Image) facility, and IMA will set up the facility and operate it. The IMA at present has such a facility only in Palakkad district where biomedical waste from across the state is treated. The facility in Kochi is also part of Image's plan to set up waste treatment facilities in all the three regions of the state.

Biomedical waste from the apartments and villas developed by Credai members will be treated at the Kochi facilityapart from those from the hospitals. However, its location has not yet been identified.

The treatment plant is expected to be ready in two months.

"The city now has facilities to treat plastic and degradable waste, but none to treat biomedical waste, which also causes pollution. Segregation and treatment of such waste are a very serious issue," said Najeeb Zackeria, executive member, Credai-Kochi.

Garbage collectors of local bodies have been expressing concern about the practice of mixing biomedical waste and degradable waste.

In many apartments, there is no specific facility to collect syringes, used cotton and medicine bottles, which often get mixed with food or plastic waste.

Kudos to Credai and multiple NGOs, for safeguarding Kochi from wastage problems... We can't give much credit to Cochin Corporation in dealing so. But Kochi was saved from epidermics and panchyat vs Corporation feuds as we see in many places, only because of these agencies, who strive hard to reduce the quantity of wastes taken to Brahmapuram and other places.

Recently there was a news how Tripunithara is almost able to achieve Zero Waste project. If things move well, the Royal Capital, will be first muncipality in the state, to achieve cent percent zero waste goal

[Malayaali]

Suchitwa Mission to help corporation cap heaped waste at Brahmapuram

The Suchitwa Mission will assist the Kochi Corporation in scientifically capping waste at the Brahmapuram solid waste treatment plant. The plant site is estimated to have around 200 tonnes of non-biodegradable waste.

A team of officials from the mission would visit the plant soon, said George Chakkachery, executive director of the mission.

The mission would meet the expenses of capping the waste. The corporation had submitted a request seeking support for the project. The proposal was being processed by the mission, he said.

Two sites which could contain the non-degradable waste have been proposed for capping, said T.K. Ashraf, chairman of the Health Standing Committee of the corporation.

Earlier because of technical snags at the plant, the corporation authorities had to cap the waste. Later, a considerable amount of waste was cleared.

New plant

The State government has received technical and financial bids from 11 firms which were shortlisted for setting up a new plant at Brahmapuram. The deadline for submitting the bids is November 19.

All agencies that have evinced interest in the project are consortiums of companies with foreign partners. The project also involves over Rs. 200 crore, government officials said.

The groundwork for the projects is being completed with the target of making the plant operational by December 2013. The applications would be processed in accordance with the guidelines laid down by the Central government, Dr. Chakkachery said.

A pre-bid meeting would be held in Thiruvananthapuram this month to clarify doubts of potential bidders regarding the project.

The new plant would have multi-mode processing capabilities for handling different types of waste. Multiple options would have to be integrated in the new plant. The option of compost plant was ruled out for Kochi earlier, he said.

Vehicle-mounted plant

The vehicle-mounted garbage processing plant procured by the State government will reach the State capital this week. The vehicle, which is the first of its kind in the country, will be operating in Thiruvananthapuram on an experimental basis.

The fuel efficiency and the capability of the machine-mounted processor will be evaluated and if found satisfactory, more vehicles will be ordered. The vehicle costs Rs. 2.2 crore.

A decision on the deployment of the vehicle to other cities will be taken only after evaluating its performance. Funds would not be a constraint for procuring one more vehicle as it has been earmarked in the budget, he said.

[Malayaali]

CREDAI Kochi clean city Movement

[Richukutan]

I feel it is the best way of waste management and I am very happy to see that it has started in my Kochi

I hope we will have a more cleaner and beautiful Kochi

[Malayaali]

Country's first Bio-medical waste treatment plant to be in Kochi

വീടുകളിലെ ബയോമെഡിക്കൽ മാലിന്യ സംസ്കരണം; ഇന്ത്യയിലെ ആദ്യപദ്ധതി കൊച്ചിയിൽ

കൊച്ചി: ഇന്ത്യയിൽ ആദ്യമായി വീടുകളിൽ സൃഷ്ടിക്കപ്പെടുന്ന ബയോമെഡിക്കൽ മാലിന്യങ്ങൾ ശേഖരിച്ച് ശാസ്ത്രീയമായി സംസ്ക്കരിക്കുന്നതിന് കൊച്ചിയിൽ പദ്ധതിയൊരുങ്ങുന്നു. ക്രെഡായ് കൊച്ചി, ഐ.എം.എ എന്നീ സംഘടനകളുടെ കീഴിൽ രൂപീകരിക്കപ്പെട്ട ക്രെഡായ് ക്ലീൻ സിറ്റി മൂവ്മെന്റ്(സി.സി.സി.എം), ഇമേജ് (ഐ.എം.എ.ജി.ഇ) എന്നിവയാണ് വർധിച്ചുകൊണ്ടിരിക്കുന്ന ബയോ മെഡിക്കൽ മാലിന്യപ്രശ്നം പരിഹരിക്കുന്നതിന് കൈകോർക്കുന്നത്.

കൊച്ചിയിലെ റസിഡൻഷ്യൽ കോളനികളിലും അപ്പാർട്ട്്മെന്റുകളിലും പതിന്മടങ്ങ് വർധിച്ചുവരുന്ന നീഡിൽസ്, സിറിഞ്ചുകൾ, കോട്ടൺ, സാനിറ്ററി നാപ്കിൻസ്, ഡയപ്പേഴ്സ് തുടങ്ങിയ ബയോമെഡിക്കൽ മാലിന്യങ്ങൾ ശാസ്ത്രീയമായി സംസ്കരിക്കുന്നതിന് കൊച്ചിയിൽ സംവിധാനങ്ങളൊന്നുമില്ല. ഇത്തരം മാലിന്യങ്ങൾ അശാസ്ത്രീയമായി പുറന്തള്ളുന്നതിന്റെ ഫലമായി കൊച്ചിയിൽ പകർച്ചവ്യാധികൾ പൊട്ടിപ്പുറപ്പെടാനുള്ള സാധ്യതകളേറെയാണ്.

കൊച്ചിയിലേയും പരിസരപ്രദേശങ്ങളിലേയും ആശുപത്രികൾ, അപ്പാർട്ട്മെന്റ് കോംപ്ലക്സുകൾ, റസിഡൻഷ്യൽ കോളനികൾ എന്നിവിടങ്ങളിൽ നിന്നുള്ള ബയോമെഡിക്കൽ മാലിന്യങ്ങൾ ശേഖരിച്ച് സംസ്കരിക്കുന്നതിന് ക്രെഡായിയുടെ സഹകരണത്തോടെ പൊതുസംസ്കരണ സംവിധാനം ഇമേജ് നിർമിച്ച് പ്രവർത്തിപ്പിക്കുകയാണ് ഈ സംയുക്ത സംരഭത്തിന്റെ ലക്ഷ്യം. കൊച്ചി കോർപ്പറേഷനുമായി ചേർന്ന് സി.സി.സി.എം (ക്രെഡായ് ക്ലീൻ സിറ്റി മൂവ്മെന്റ്) പ്ലാസ്റ്റീക് തുണ്ടുകളാക്കി ശേഖരിക്കുന്ന പദ്ധതിക്ക് തുടക്കമിട്ടു കഴിഞ്ഞു. നല്ലയിനം പ്ലാസ്റ്റീക്കുകൾ അപ്പാർട്ട്മെന്റുകളിൽ നിന്ന് ശേഖരിച്ച് തുണ്ടംതുണ്ടമാക്കി സൂക്ഷിച്ചശേഷം റോഡ് ടാറിംഗിനായി ഉപയോഗിക്കുന്നതാണ് ഈ പദ്ധതി.

[Kochi Resident]

So now is the waste problem in Kochi more or less resolved? Is the waste being processed on a daily basis in Brahmapuram?

Originally Posted by Malayaali

CREDAI Kochi clean city Movement

[DileepKS]

Yes it is. The only remaining problem is the 'randomly throwing', which isn't going to get fixed.

[thanseem]

Originally Posted by sree_ec

what a location they have identified. A good way to say "Welcome to Kochi"

"kochi ethi"..:salim kumar:

[Kochi Resident]

Good that we have a cleaner Kochi now. Regarding the second problem the people need civic sense which will never happen anywhere in India.

Originally Posted by DileepKS

Yes it is. The only remaining problem is the 'randomly throwing', which isn't going to get fixed.

[passionfruit12]

Subsidy likely to woo more to decentralised waste treatment

The Sanitation Mission expects more local bodies in the district to come up with projects for decentralised waste treatment in the wake of enhanced subsidy component by the State government for compost units and biogas plants.

The State government has hiked the subsidy component for various types of compost units to 90 per cent, and biogas plants to 75 per cent.

Government subsidy

The government subsidy will be routed through the Sanitation Mission.

For compost units, the government will provide 75 per cent subsidy, while the rest will be shared by the local body and the beneficiary concerned in the ratio of 15 per cent and 10 per cent.

Equal share

In the case of biogas plant, the subsidy components by the government will be 50 per cent while the local body and the beneficiary will share the rest equally.

Subsidy for compost units hiked to 90 per cent, and biogas plants to 75 per cent.

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper...cle4029861.ece

[passionfruit12]

More local bodies to go for decentralised waste treatment plants

The Sanitation Mission expects more local bodies in the district to come up with projects for decentralised waste treatment in the wake of enhanced subsidy component by the State government for compost units and biogas plants.

The State government has hiked the subsidy component for various types of compost units to 90 per cent, and biogas plants to 75 per cent. The government subsidy will be routed through the Sanitation Mission.

For compost units, the government will provide 75 per cent subsidy, while the rest will be shared by the local body and the beneficiary concerned in the ratio of 15 per cent and 10 per cent. In the case of biogas plant, the subsidy components by the government will be 50 per cent while the local body and the beneficiary will share the rest equally.

To avail of the subsidy, the local body will have to submit a project report to the Sanitation Mission, which will then provide the technical sanction, P.K. Alexander, district coordinator, Sanitary Mission, told The Hindu here on Monday. He said the Sanitation Mission will release the government subsidy as soon as the local body enters into an agreement with a service provider. Last financial year, 10 grama panchayats and eight municipalities submitted project reports for availing of the subsidy. Those projects, however, failed to take off as the rates fixed by the government were low, driving away prospective suppliers. Mr. Alexander said that the situation is likely to improve this year with the revised subsidy rates.

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper...cle4029842.ece

[passionfruit12]

Biogas plants to earn Kumbalangi more fame

Kumbalangi, the tourist village, is planning to set up 500 bio gas plants. Once implemented, the ‘Kumbalangi Clean Village Project’, a joint venture by the Department of Tourism, grama panchayat and Kumbalangi Model Tourism Development Society, is likely to earn this coastal village the credit as the panchayat with the largest number of bio gas plants in the state.

The plants will be installed under the Rs 85-lakh project, the formal launch of which will be held at a function on Monday. “The beneficiaries of the bio gas plants will be selected by the panchayat. Each of them has to pay just Rs 2,000 for the plant which costs Rs 14,000. The ‘Kumbalangi Clean Village Project’ includes a cloth bag-manufacturing and a plastic-shredding unit too,” said panchayat president Usha Pradeep.

It may be recalled that installation of around 800 latrine-linked bio gas plants was completed in 2005-06 making Kumbalangi one of the most eco-friendly tourist destinations. “The village also has more than 100 bio toilets at present,” Usha Pradeep said. Kerala Minister for Tourism A P Anil Kumar will launch the project. Union Minister of State for Food and Civil Supplies K V Thomas will also be present at the function.

http://newindianexpress.com/cities/k...cle1312402.ece

[passionfruit12]

Corporation wilts under mosquito invasion



The Kochi Corporation’s reluctance to respond to the RTIs is not new. Earlier, if it was in connection with the convening of gramsabhas, this time it is with regard to various projects undertaken to wipe out mosquito menace in the city. The Corporation hasn’t divulged much details in response to a RTI filed in this regard and the only information it was willing to disclose is regarding the fund it received for various mosquito eradication programmes.

The Civic body hasn’t responded to queries about various steps taken to curb the menace and its results. It also hasn’t answered questions regarding the surveys held on the effectiveness of the projects and the intervals at which the mosquito-control projects were implemented.

D B Binu, state general secretary, Kerala Human Rights Defence Forum, who filed the RTI, said the stance of the Corporation was doubtful. “Either the Corporation did not have the required information or it didn’t want to divulge it. It would not be wrong to assume that the projects failed,” he said.

Binu added that the easiest way to curb mosquito menace was to route saline water to the drains. “The Corporation is resorting to other methods to get funds as nobody will fund a saline water project,” he said. Binu added that he would approach the State Information Commission against Corporation.

Meanwhile, M Anil Kumar, Councillor, Elamakkara, said the Corporation stance proves that even the drive recently undertaken by it went awry.

Sources said the Kochi Corporation had earlier conducted a study on mosquito menace.

The study team, led by the late Kunthala Jayaraman of Vector Control Research Centre, Vellore, has proposed the use of bio-larvicides, an expensive mosquito repellant. “Prior to it, the Corporation was using cheap repellant. The Corporation decided to implement the suggestion during the tenure of Dinesh Mani. “Though the company which manufactured the spray directly supplied it at first, the project was wrapped up after many local agencies ushered into the scene,” sources said. However, T K Ashraf, chairman, Health Standing Committee Chairman, refuted the charges. “For the past two years, we have been undertaking many measures which yielded result to an extend. The Corporation can furnish only those details in its purview,” he said.

New Projects

The Kochi Corporation Council has approved a new proposal to buy four big sprayers and 20 small hand-held sprayers. Each spraying machine will cost around Rs 1 lakh.

http://newindianexpress.com/cities/k...cle1312404.ece

[passionfruit12]