MARGAO
The Margao Municipal Council is re-drawing its methods to minimize the amount of plastic and non-biodegradable waste landing at the waste treatment plant, as Chief Officer Johnson Fernandes has launched a two-pronged strategy at the plant site itself and the waste collection source.
However, sources in the know said the absence of a mechanical baling machine and shortage of small dedicated vehicles to transport the segregated waste from the city to the plant may come in the way of the implementation of the measures.
A marathon closed-door interaction called by the Chief Officer on Wednesday morning, which was attended by senior MMC officials and Fomento Green CEO Sridhar Kamat, discussed ways and means to stop the unsegregated waste from finding its away at the Sonsodo treatment plant.
Measures suggested to curb non-biodegradable waste from entering the plant includes deploying workers to manually rip open the small plastic bags containing waste. The second suggestion is to deploy a fleet of small vehicles to collect segregated waste and transport the same directly to the plant without mixing with the unsegregated waste. However, the second suggestion will entail procurement of additional 12-13 rickshaws to cover the entire city as the existing fleet of seven such vehicles has failed to serve the purpose.
"We have assessed the ground situation at Sonsodo on Wednesday along with the civic officials and with the representatives of Fomento Green. What we have come across is even segregated dry waste finds its way into the plant and comes out in the open dump. This shows that the sorted dry waste is not transported in separate vehicles, a thing which we want to put an end to at the earliest," the CO told The Goan.
To tide over the situation, the CO has told the sanitary inspector Viraj Arabekar to work out a system wherein segregated waste does not enter the garbage compactors and is directly transported to the Sonsodo plant for baling. What may come in the way of the effective implementation of this suggestion is the shortage of vehicles. Presently, the MMC has in its garage only seven small vehicles, including rickshaws, which will be deployed immediately to implement the measures. Senior MMC officials, however, informed that the civic body will require another 13 rickshaws costing approximately Rs 5-6 lakh to achieve the objective.
The latest exercise to minimize the entry of unsegregated waste at the Sonsodo waste treatment plant assumes significance and comes against the backdrop of the Goa State Infrastructure Development Corporation's decision not to resume bio-mining of the existing dump yard in view of the continuous entry of plastic and non-biodegradable waste at the site.
The Margao Municipal Council is re-drawing its methods to minimize the amount of plastic and non-biodegradable waste landing at the waste treatment plant, as Chief Officer Johnson Fernandes has launched a two-pronged strategy at the plant site itself and the waste collection source.
However, sources in the know said the absence of a mechanical baling machine and shortage of small dedicated vehicles to transport the segregated waste from the city to the plant may come in the way of the implementation of the measures.
A marathon closed-door interaction called by the Chief Officer on Wednesday morning, which was attended by senior MMC officials and Fomento Green CEO Sridhar Kamat, discussed ways and means to stop the unsegregated waste from finding its away at the Sonsodo treatment plant.
Measures suggested to curb non-biodegradable waste from entering the plant includes deploying workers to manually rip open the small plastic bags containing waste. The second suggestion is to deploy a fleet of small vehicles to collect segregated waste and transport the same directly to the plant without mixing with the unsegregated waste. However, the second suggestion will entail procurement of additional 12-13 rickshaws to cover the entire city as the existing fleet of seven such vehicles has failed to serve the purpose.
"We have assessed the ground situation at Sonsodo on Wednesday along with the civic officials and with the representatives of Fomento Green. What we have come across is even segregated dry waste finds its way into the plant and comes out in the open dump. This shows that the sorted dry waste is not transported in separate vehicles, a thing which we want to put an end to at the earliest," the CO told The Goan.
To tide over the situation, the CO has told the sanitary inspector Viraj Arabekar to work out a system wherein segregated waste does not enter the garbage compactors and is directly transported to the Sonsodo plant for baling. What may come in the way of the effective implementation of this suggestion is the shortage of vehicles. Presently, the MMC has in its garage only seven small vehicles, including rickshaws, which will be deployed immediately to implement the measures. Senior MMC officials, however, informed that the civic body will require another 13 rickshaws costing approximately Rs 5-6 lakh to achieve the objective.
The latest exercise to minimize the entry of unsegregated waste at the Sonsodo waste treatment plant assumes significance and comes against the backdrop of the Goa State Infrastructure Development Corporation's decision not to resume bio-mining of the existing dump yard in view of the continuous entry of plastic and non-biodegradable waste at the site.
