Three acres to be transferred to a private company in Brahmapuram for new waste plant

Kochi: The authorities are mulling to transfer three acres of land to a private company to establish a new food waste processing plant at Brahmapuram. The proposal of G3 Renewables that had established a similar plant in Willingdon Island is currently under consideration. Despite opposition from the LDF councillors, the corporation council has decided to go ahead with the project after the proposal won a vote of motion (40 – 20). Meanwhile, the UDF and BJP’s councillors voted in support of the project.

A team of councillors led by the mayor will visit the plant at Willingdon and would invite a letter of interest if they are impressed by its facilities. Mayor VK Minimol stated that other companies too can offer letters of interest as the corporation’s main aim is to overcome the current crisis in waste management.

Meanwhile, opposition leader VA Sreejith expressed reservations about the technology utilised by the company and wondered whether the Suchitwa Mission had granted permission for the project after conducting sufficient technical inspections.

What is the project?
The project envisages to separate food waste and turn it into 35 percent poultry feed, 8 – 10 percent bio fuel and 50 percent water. The company will build the plant on the three-acre land obtained for lease at Brahmapuram for 25 years, within 8 – 10 months, by spending around ₹25 – 30 crore. The company will collect waste from the collection points established by the corporation and will transport to the processing plant in Brahmapuram. For this, the company will charge Rs 200 per tonne as fees.

Currently, the Black Soldier Fly (BSF) plant at Brahmapuram processes waste for ₹2500 per tonne. Health permanent samiti chairperson Seena Gokulan said that more than 240 tonnes of waste are generated per day in the corporation limits and the facility at Brahmapuram can only process up to 140 tonne in a day. The project was explained at the council by UDF councillor Henry Austin.

Subsidy for biomedical waste
The corporation council has decided to provide  12 per kilo as subsidy for bedridden patients, palliative patients, extremely poor people and differently abled persons for collecting and processing the sanitary waste from homes. Meanwhile, the LDF’s demand to provide subsidy to everyone was dismissed by the council. The LDF councillors staged a blockade at the mayor’s office as a protest against the council’s refusal to allow a detailed discussion on the project.