Aafrin Kidwai 
Bharathiar university, Coimbatore
Coimbatore’s Bharathiar University has been commissioned to study the characterization and quantification of solid waste that is generated in the city corporation limits.
The environmental science department of the university has received the corporation’s nod to conduct the study. “The corporation wants to measure the percentage of each types of wastes like plastics, metals, sanitary and dry wastes generated in the city. It also wants to measure the percentage of heavy metal, its caloric values and pH value, found in garbage collected daily and devise an effective disposal mechanism. The study should be carried out in all the five zones and during multiple periods like festival season and weekends,” as per a source quoted in The Times of India.
After the lockdown was imposed to contain the spread of Covid-19 in March, the city’s garbage collection came down to 700 to 850 tonnes per day. Now, it has gradually increased to 850 to 950 tonnes per day. The quantity is still less when compared to the quantity generated before the lockdown period – 950 to 1,000 tonnes per day.
Meanwhile, chairperson of the state monitoring committee of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) for solid waste management has directed officials to speed up the solid waste management related works including construction of micro composting centres, source segregation of wastes and bio-mining process.
