Sanitary waste incineration facility to be set up in Ernakulam

The Local Self-Government department (LSGD) has executed an agreement to set up a regional sanitary waste incineration facility in Ernakulam.

It is among the four such facilities initiated to address gaps in sanitary waste management. The government had earlier asked the Kochi Corporation to allot one acre at Brahmapuram for setting up the plant. Besides Ernakulam, the facility at Brahmapuram will cater for Alappuzha, Kottayam and Idukki districts.

The three other plants will come up in Kollam, Palakkad, and Kannur. The agreements for the implementation of these projects have been executed, the LSGD said in a report filed before the Principal Bench of the National Green Tribunal on action taken for management of solid and liquid waste.

According to the project guidelines, Clean Kerala Company Limited will set up each of the proposed plants on land with an extent of 50 cents under a suitable public-private partnership model. Each of the facilities will have capacity to treat 20 tonnes of sanitary waste daily. The LSGD said sanitary waste was collected separately at source and based on demand. It is disposed of using double-chambered incinerators.

The process for setting up four regional-level sanitary waste treatment plants has been initiated in addition to the double-chambered sanitary incinerators established at the local-body level and the common biomedical waste management facility of Kerala Enviro Infrastructure Limited at Ambalamedu.

The one-acre land at Brahmapuram is located close to the existing incinerator. It was identified in the waste management master plan approved by the Corporation council earlier. The LSGD had directed the Corporation secretary to take necessary steps to demarcate and transfer the land for the project, in consultation with Suchitwa Mission and Clean Kerala Company Limited.