MARGAO
In a bid to cap the increasing coconut waste generated in the commercial capital, the Margao Municipal Council on Tuesday commissioned a coconut shredding machine at Sonsodo.
The machine will be formally inaugurated on Wednesday, raising hopes in the corridors of the civic body to cap the increasing amount of coconut waste in the city. This is the second such machine installed at Sonsodo, the first one being a coconut leaves shredder.
The coconut shredding machine is believed to have cost the Margao civic body around Rs 13 lakh and has been approved by the Goa Energy Development Agency (GEDA).
Sources said the machine was specially designed for coconut shredding to tackle the coconut waste which had reached unmanageable proportions in the city.
In fact, the MMC had some months ago barred tender coconut sellers from doing business in the city over the problem of coconut waste disposal. Besides tender coconut waste, sources said that coconut waste is being generated in overwhelming numbers in households across the commercial capital.
In the absence of dedicate space to dump the coconut waste and coupled with the absence of any wherewithal to dispose of the coconut waste, mounds of coconut shells were found across the city before the waste was finally lifted away by the civic body.
The coconut shredder has a capacity to crush around 500 kg in an hour. Sources in the civic body informed that the powder waste that is generated by the machine will be transported to Saligao to an unit which is engaged in production of pellets out of such waste.
