Currently when locals are protesting against setting up a garbage processing plants in their area, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has come up with a solution of “plug and key” units to save time and money.

The new units installed on vehicles with different types of mesh attached with a conveyor belt will segregate dry garbage. Post segregation of garbage, the residue will be sent to scientific landfilling in Uruli Devachi garbage depot which is permissible as per National Green Tribunal (NGT) order.

The civic administration claims that it is the first kind of mobile project in the city, which the PMC has brought in at Ramtekadi.

Kunal Khemnar, additional municipal commissioner, said, “The project will save time, money and minimum manpower. There will be no civil work to set up the plant. It will start just to plug and key and the processing will be done on machines. We need only fuel to run the machine.”

Madhav Jagtap, deputy municipal commissioner, solid waste management department, said, “The project will run on two mobile vans. It doesn’t require much land like other garbage processing plants.”

“At present, we cannot dump garbage at Uruli garbage depot as per NGT order. So, we will segregate the garbage and use it for different purposes. The contractor will make refuse-derived fuel (RDF) from the residue of garbage,” he said.

At present, the PMC is facing resistance from locals in three major garbage processing plants which are located at Sus, Ambegaon and Keshavnagar areas. Residents are opposing a plant due to bad odour and filth. Besides that, PMC doesn’t find open space to set up garbage processing plants within the city as well as out of the PMC limit. Even the government is not keen to give land to PMC. The government had allotted land to the corporation in Pimpri-Sandas area in Pune district. It is a forest department land. However, it has not been handed over to PMC for more than five years now.

The PMC standing committee approved a project on December 29 expediting the process as there is 45,000 metric tons of garbage laying without processing at Hadapsar.

Officials said, “The mobile processing plant – also referred to as “plug and key” as it can be moved anywhere and make applicable – requires a small piece of land. The unit will be running in Ramtekadi industrial area on PMC’s land. “

Sanket Jadhav, junior engineer, solid waste management department, said, “The process is used in the mining industry to segregate material of different size. On the machine, there are different types of mesh attached with a conveyor belt which segregate dry garbage. It requires only 15,000 square feet of land to segregate garbage. After segregation of garbage, the residue will be sent to scientific landfilling in Uruli Devachi garbage depot which is permissible as per NGT order.”

“At present, the contractor will use two machines for garbage processing. It is a pilot project which will run for two months and after that, a proper tender will be floated,” he added.

Requirement for conventional processing plant

The civic body requires 2 to 2.5 acre of land to set up 200 metric ton conventional processing plant and it also needs a 1,000KVs electrical connection. PMC is awaiting permission from the Maharashtra State Pollution Control Board (MSPCB) to run the project. The overall time is around eight months to start the project.

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