Khurda: At a time when most civic bodies are struggling to find a way out to deal with tons of garbage generated in their respective areas, Khurda municipality is all set to earn from its garbage.
Here is how.
According to Khurda municipality, with over 47,000 people inhabiting in the municipality area, the town generates 14 to 16 tons of garbage every day. Of them, while 40 per cent comprises dry wastages, the rest 60 per cent is of wet type.
The municipality is converting this wet type of garbage into organic manure. For this, a Micro Compost Centre and a Segregation Centre were constructed which were inaugurated by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik through video conference August 31. The centre was constructed at a budget of Rs 56,00,000 at Mukundprasad Chachera Sahi by House and Urban Development Department.
The Micro Compost Centre has 14 (3.3 metre x 2.3meter x 1metre) tanks. Each tank can hold maximum five tons of garbage and, in turn, it will generate 500 kilograms of manure.
According to sanitisation expert, Khurda municipality, Debashis Baral, the wet type of garbage is dumped into the tanks in three layers. “A tank takes at least 21 days to fill to its capacity and it takes 21 days more to produce manure. In total, the entire process takes 42 days,” Baral explained.
Meanwhile, after one and a half months since its inception, the centre has started producing organic manure. The municipality is presently planning to sell the manure. “In the first phase, we have produced 100 kilograms of manure. This manure will soon be available in the market in 5-kilogram packets by the name of ‘Mo Khata’, informed Khurda municipality, executive officer Swatapadma Satpathy.
“We are yet to decide the price of a packet of ‘Mo Khata’. Once decided, they will be available in the market. We hope ‘Mo Khata’ does not have problems to get buyers as organic manure is in demand. There is a plan to set up a second unit near Gurujang Navodaya School in the second phase but it largely depends on the success of our first unit,” she added.
PNN
