MARGAO
Guess where all the hair waste, chicken feathers or slaughter waste generated in the villages and towns finds its way into the State? Is there any scientific mechanism in place to treat the waste? or does it find its way to the waste treatment facilities sans segregation or along the roadsides?
The disposal of hair waste and chicken feathers might have not received as serious attention as it deserved from the waste managers and handlers across the State as the volume of such trash may be negligible as compared to the daily garbage, including dry and wet.
But not anymore, as the Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) has accepted a recommendation made by the Goa Waste Management Corporation (GWMC) to entrust the responsibility for the disposal of hair waste and chicken feathers to the agency running the common Bio-medical Waste Treatment Facility at Kundaim through incineration.
GWMC Managing Director Levinson Martins, who is a member of the GSPCB, drew the attention of the pollution board stating that there is no proper segregation by panchayats/municipalities, especially for the hair waste and chicken feathers and hence, recommended that permission be granted to M/s Biotic Waste Solutions Pvt Ltd for scientifically disposing the waste at the Common Bio-medical Waste Treatment Facility in Kundaim through incineration.
After discussion, GSPCB members approved granting permission to the agency, subject to the condition that the facility applies to the board for an amendment to the consent issued to them.
Says Martins: “I requested the GSPCB to allow the disposal of hair waste and chicken feathers, slaughter waste at Common Biomedical Waste Treatment Facility, Kundaim given the difficulties faced by the waste treatment facilities in the disposal of the waste.”
He added: “The recommendation was made to the GSPCB since hair waste and chicken feathers take a long time to bio-degrade. That’s not all. It is unclear where all the hair waste is disposed of in the towns and villages. Similar is the case with chicken feathers. We come across the chicken and slaughter waste dumped along roadsides, causing nuisance and pollution.”
He said there are hundreds of hair-cutting saloons across the State and no one knows how the local bodies are handling the waste even in the event the saloons hand over the waste in a segregated manner.
“If any agency is willing to handle and recycle the hair waste and chicken feathers, they are most welcome,” he added.
With the GSPCB agreeing in principle to the proposal to treat the hair waste and the chicken feathers at the Kundaim facility via incineration, the GSPCB and the GWMC are now bracing up to write letters to the Director of Municipal Administration and the Director of Panchayats to inform the local bodies for proper segregation of the hair waste and chicken feathers before it is sent to the Kundaim plant.
“As it is the agency handling the bio-medical facility at Kundaim is collecting the bio-medical waste through its network. Hair waste and chicken feathers can also be collected by the same agency from the towns and villages,” he added.
