Kolkata civic body to set up biomining facility at Dhapa

The West Bengal government has revealed details of its plan for bio-mining at Dhapa, which will help reduce the 35-metre tall mound of garbage accumulated at the decades-old site. The recovered waste will be sent to recycling units, creating more space for future dumping at the 60-acre Dhapa site.

Plans are afoot to build a facility adjacent to the landfill site at Dhapa where segregation will be carried out. Organic waste will be turned to compost and used as soil-conditioner in agriculture. The inorganic material found in the waste such as plastics, rubber, cloth, leather, wood and glass items would be used by the cement industry .

A tender has been floated to invite companies to implement the project. The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) is also looking for agencies to build recycling units at Dhapa.

According to Telegraph India the KMC also has an uphill task of introducing waste segregation at source throughout the city. Segregation at source is being done in only 27 of 144 wards managed by KMC.

Picture Credit: Biswarup Ganguly, Kolkata Municipal Corporation – Kolkata 2013-04-15 6065, CC BY 3.0