Big trash problem

Before Clean Coonoor took over the municipal solid waste management facility in Ottupattarai in 2019, 13 metric tonnes of waste – about two times the weight of an elephant – were being openly dumped in the yard every day. With no standard operating procedures in place, around 12,000 cubic feet of unprocessed waste had piled up. Samantha reminisces that Clean Coonoor had long wanted to address this situation. Serendipity played a part, and before long, the Coonoor municipality handed over a part of the responsibility to the organisation. “The door-to-door waste collection and transportation are still done by the municipality, which sends its trucks. We process the waste,” she shares.

Coonoor town has been making efforts to manage its waste for quite some time. In 2016, the town went entirely bin-less after noticing that animals were being attracted to the bins. Later in 2018, plastic PET bottles, except for five-litre water bottles, were banned. “We did a clean-up of the town in 2018 and recovered 300 tonnes of plastic bottles alone, which prompted the authorities to enforce the ban,” says Samantha.

The ban on bins strengthened door-to-door collection of waste. Residents were encouraged to segregate their waste into dry and wet categories, a practice that continues to this day. “Despite segregation at source, mixing happened in the truck. It happens even now, but the drivers are more mindful after we started processing the waste properly,” Samantha explains.

Waste segregation

At the resource recovery centre, dry waste is segregated into five groups: paper, plastic, metals, glass, and clothes (including sanitary waste). While paper, metals, and glass are recycled, plastic is further segregated into high-value and low-value categories. Samantha notes that high-value plastic, such as grocery packaging, has a market and fetches the centre good revenue. However, low-value plastic, mostly in the form of biscuit and chips packaging, is difficult to process. “They are burnt in certain cement factories for fuel. Pyrolysis is another option. We send them to an organisation called Pyrogreen in Ranipet for pyrolysis,” she adds. Waste cloths, mattresses, sanitary waste, etc., are burnt in a fuel-less burner at the facility.

Wet waste, explains Panchavarnam, goes through a thorough process. First, it is manually segregated to remove any plastic or non-compostable materials and then pulverised. It is heaped and occasionally turned for windrow composting. Afterward, it is left to mature and dry before being packed and is ready for sale. “We sell most of this compost to individuals, private farms and the district horticulture department, which gives it to farmers for free,” notes Panchavarnam. “We generate 50 tonnes of compost per month,” he adds.

The facility employs 40 workers, most of them women, with two exclusively dedicated to taking care of the garden.

The centre, run on donations from various funding organisations, individuals, and CSR funds, recovers one-third of its costs through the sale of compost and high-value waste. While the aim is to function independently in the future, they acknowledge that this may not be possible soon. “Right now, we are focusing on strengthening our operations. Later, we will consider expanding the scope and conducting awareness programmes. Most importantly, we want to improve the quality of waste. The next step would be to increase the volume,” shares Panchavarnam.

Currently, they are also working on engaging school kids. “We invite schools to bring their students and get them acquainted with the process. They should know what their waste is and where it is going. It may bring about a positive change in them,” concludes Samantha.

Banner image: A gardener tends to the plants in the garden adjacent to the waste segregation and recovery center at Oottupattarai in Coonoor. Image by Abhishek N. Chinnappa/Mongabay.

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Aditi Tandon Senior Production Editor

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Health impactsPlasticPollutionTourismWaste managementIndiaTamil Nadu

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