Mumbai: Ward officer, engineers design machine that converts wet waste into bio-compost

The waste management centre that has been set up at Dharavi was inaugurated on Friday evening. The civic body is expected to produce at least 10 metric tonnes of compost from this centre.

With the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) failure to start a decentralised method of waste management even after two years of planning, the ward officer of G north (Dadar, Matunga, Mahim areas), with the help of civic engineers, has designed a machine that converts wet waste into bio-compost.

The-ward-officer-of-G-north-Dadar-Matunga-Mahim-areas-with-the-help-of-civic-engineers-has-designed-a-machine-that-converts-wet-waste-into-bio-compost-Pratham-Gokhale-HT-photo

The waste management centre that has been set up at Dharavi was inaugurated on Friday evening. The civic body is expected to produce at least 10 metric tonnes of compost from this centre. This compost will be sold to the garden department of the BMC.

The machine converts waste into organic compost, at just one third of the cost.

“We took about six months to design and get the mechanism in place. The idea was to have a decentralised method of waste management that reduces the transportation costs. This will also help bring down the burden at dumping yards. This is a great way to generate revenue too,” said Sharad Ugade, assistant municipal commissioner.

The ward engineers also designed a waste segregation machine that separates wet and dry garbage. The G north ward generates about 800 metric tonnes of waste every day, of which about 100 to 150 metric tonnes consists of wet waste.

The civic body now plans to get other wards to put in place similar waste management centres.

The officials claimed these machines will be extremely useful if they are set up at various municipal markets in the city, so that everyday waste can be easily processed without any transportation cost involved.

“It is a very innovative method created by the civic engineers and we will replicate the system wherever possible,” said civic chief Ajoy Mehta.

(Photos by Pratham Gokhale)