Tambaram corporation launches waste transfer system to end decades-old dumping issue

Chennai: After decades of garbage piling up on roadsides, lake bunds and open grounds across Tambaram, the civic body has launched a new solid waste transfer system that promises to change the way waste is handled and transported in the city.

The corporation has procured eight modern garbage containers and four hydraulic garbage trucks as part of its ₹8 crore project to ensure that garbage collected every day, and is processed and transported the same day, instead of being dumped in the open for several days before disposal. Waste is compressed and sealed inside closed containers before being transported, preventing spillage on to roads and reducing foul smell during transit.

"The waste is first segregated into two types: biodegradable and non-biodegradable. Biodegradable waste is sent directly to composting centres, while other waste is transferred through the newly established facility at Kannadapalayam. At the transfer station, garbage collection vehicles unload waste into specially designed funnels. The waste is compressed into sealed containers with a capacity of 15 tonnes each, and then transported to the processing yard," said a corporation official.

Tambaram corporation, which covers five zones and 70 wards, generates about 450 tonnes of waste daily, with around 2,000 sanitation workers and 400 garbage collection vehicles engaged in waste management operations. The new system has been introduced on a trial basis at Perungalathur, which alone generates around 100 tonnes. It will be expanded to the other zones in phases.

Until now, waste collected from different parts of Tambaram was temporarily dumped at Kannadapalayam, Kadaperi, Pammal, Visweshapuram and Madambakkam before being transported to the processing facility at Appur for segregation and recycling. “Around 21 trips are made every day to transport waste to the Appur facility,” said Tambaram commissioner S Balachander. He added that the corporation expects to complete the biomining of the remaining legacy waste by next year.

Residents, however, have raised concerns over waste collection practices in some areas. M Gandhi, president of Pallavaram Residents Welfare Association, said, “The corporation has plans only on paper, but they lack executing the planned projects. At East Tambaram, Pallavaram and Chromepet, the sanitation workers come only twice a week to collect the waste. There are more than 18 village panchayats around the corporation limits. Waste collection to all these places must be regularised first.”