Kottayam: Solid waste management is a challenge for civic bodies even as garbage pile up, posing health hazards.
The Kottayam Municipal Corporation is clueless on handling the garbage that has already been collected as Clean Kerala Company, an initiative of the Kerala government, has refused to collect garbage from the town.
The District Sanitation Mission has informed the municipality that it has received all the garbage collected as part of the pre-monsoon clean-up campaign held for two days last month and from now the civic body should find own ways to process non-biodegradable waste.
However, the municipality doesn't know what to do with the 25 tonnes of non-biodegradable garbage it has already collected.
The garbage has been stored at Nagampadam, Kodimatha, Naattakam, Thiruvathukkal, Kumaranalloor and Kanjikuzhi with being kept at the last two places.
Only half of the collected garbage can be disposed of through shredding units, said municipality chairperson Dr P R Sona. “After asking us to collect maximum garbage, it is not fair to seek alternative processing ways now,” she said.
About 198 loads of garbage have been collected from Kottayam, said Philip Joseph, the district coordinator of Sanitation Mission.
Clean Kerala Company had announced that it will accept the garbage collected during the campaign. That is complete. Now, the municipality should process the waste on its own, said Philip Joseph.
Night squad
The night squads of the municipality have strengthened their activities to stop those who dump garbage across the town at night. The squad decided to up their vigil as dumping waste on interior roads at Kodimatha, Thirunakkara and Thiruvathukkal areas are frequent.
