Biomining of waste yet to start in Dharwad

DHARWAD: The Hubballi Dharwad Municipal Corporation ( HDMC ), which has come under sharp criticism from residents of Laxminagar , Hosayellapur and surrounding areas for not being able to stop garbage catching fire near the Hosayellapur crematorium, has finally come out with a plan to check the fire.

Condemning HDMC and the administration for failing to check waste burning at Hosayellapur, hundreds of citizens had blocked the main road several times to draw the attention of the authorities.

Following this, the civic body took a decision to set up a biomining solid waste unit in the locality.

HDMC environment engineer Santosh Yarangli said, “HDMC has been using two jetting machines every day to contain fire at the dumping yard. But, as summer has set in, garbage catching fire is a natural phenomenon.”

“Every day, not less than 100 tonnes of waste from the entire city is dumped here. Due to the chemical reaction in the presence of oxygen and rise in temperature, the waste is catching fire,” he said.

Yarangli said although there is little fire, the smoke that comes out from the garbage is dangerous. To tackle this, HDMC plans to start a biomining unit .

“This biomining unit will have a capacity of 150 to 200 tonnes of waste and will not release any hazardous gas into the air. Such units are already functioning in major cities,” said Yarangli.

Segregation is key

“For biomining to be successful, segregation of waste is very important. Workers here segregate waste into wet and dry waste. The wet waste is turned into vermicompost and will be given to farmers. The dry waste will be used for the preparation of bales which can be used as fuel in cement factories and brick kilns, said Yarangli.

“The dry waste will be dumped into a machine which compresses it and makes it into bales. Each bale will weight 20 kg for easy transportation,” he added.

“Due to the burning of waste, toxic gases such as sulphur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide are released in to the air. With biomining, no such gases will be released,” he claimed.

“The building to house the biomining unit is ready, but the required machines are yet to arrive. It may take another 45 days to two months for the unit to start functioning,” he said.

With no elected body in place and HDMC staff engaged in election duty, there is no clarity about when the unit will start functioning.

Green belt

Yarangli said HDMC will developing a green belt around the biomining unit. The green belt will have several plants which can absorb the gases coming out of the unit and release large quantities of oxygen, he said. “Once this unit starts functioning, the problem of waste catching fire and smoke engulfing the city will not be there,” he added.