MARGAO
The Margao Municipal Council has been caught napping on the management of the Sonsodo waste treatment with the Goa Waste Management Corporation unearthing a host of discrepancies and deficiencies.
In the action plan report, the GWMC made a host of observations on the state of affairs at Sonsodo and suggested measures to plug the loopholes.
A glance at the report indicates that the pre-sorting trommel is not in operation. Dry waste dumped in the landfill has damaged liners of the landfill waste management facility.
The GWMC has suggested that machinery such as overhead crane, screening machines, trommels should be cleaned and painted, besides maintenance of all machinery through the original equipment supplier (OEM) to avoid interruption in the daily treatment process.
The civic body has been asked to repair the overhead crane and trommel on an urgent basis and also clean the leachate collection tank immediately. It also suggested emptying of the tank regularly at the government STP, Navelim.
Pointing out that the pre-sorting trommel is not in operation, the report pointed out that wet waste should be turned/aerated on daily basis and necessary bio-culture should be sprayed on it to enhance the decomposing process.
It was further suggested that the old damaged shed near the existing dump should be made accessible so that same area could be utilized for solid waste management.
The dry waste dumped around the landfill is to be cleared to enable to assess the damage caused to the landfill liners due to the fire incident that occurred at Sonsodo, the report said.
The report stated that the MMC should process the dry waste on daily basis and it should be segregated as recyclable and non-recyclable separately for further processing.
Wet waste received at the site should undergo pre-sorting and all the non- biodegradable matter and tender coconut shells should be removed, by making pre-sorting trommel operational.
The report further stated that the available area in the existing shed is sufficient to handle about 20 tonnes of wet waste by windrow composting on daily basis. This goes to show that MMC can’t handle the balance 15 tonnes of wet waste generated.
The situation on the wet waste front is not anything better. The report stated that the first-floor area of the shed is presently used for baling of dry waste.
“Due to constraint in area, only two baling machines can be accommodated on the first floor. The two baling machines can bale around 3-4 tonnes of waste per day. MMC has additional two baling machines at Sonsodo which are not utilized as they are kept in the open.
Also, there are two baling machines at the SGPDA market Margao and two behind the MMC office building. MMC has a total of eight baling machines, out of which six are not utilized as these are not kept under a shed,” the report stated.
The GWMC has been clear in saying that of the 25 tonnes of dry waste received by MMC, only about three tonnes are baled and balance of about 20 tonnes is not handled.
“Also, there is no system of segregating dry waste and recovering the recyclables. The existing system of dry waste can handle only 3-4 tonnes per day and the balance dry waste about 20 tonnes is not being handled as per SWM Rules 2016,” the report stated, while maintaining that the MMC has to set up a proper dry waste facility for handling 20 TPD of waste.
