Lack of facility to quantify waste adds to financial burden of Kochi corporation

Kochi: Quantity of waste being handled by private agencies on behalf of Kochi corporation is increasing but local body doesn’t have a weighbridge to measure the actual quantity of garbage. This adds to the financial burden of corporation as local body has to pay private firms which collect waste on the basis of quantity.

Plastic waste is collected from various wards by two private firms –– W Kerala and Green Worms –– deployed by corporation. “Amount of plastic waste collected in the last financial year was approximately 19.9 million kilogram. Corporation pays Rs 4 per kg for this and total amount spent on this would come to Rs 7.56 crore a year. Waste collected by these companies is taken to corporation’s resource recovery facilities (RRFs) in each area for sorting. Sorted good plastic waste has resale value. Still, corporation doesn’t get any revenue from the sale of such plastic. Moreover, local body has to pay the private firm a fixed percentage of waste collection fee on the basis of total quantity of plastic collected,” said Vyttila councillor V P Chandran.

“There is no facility to weigh the waste coming to Brahmapuram. Food waste in the divisions is processed by companies like Fabbco and Zigma, using black soldier flies. As per corporation’s data, approximately 21.5 million kilogram of waste were collected during 2025-26 fiscal. Processing cost is Rs 2.49 per kg, and a total of Rs 5.38 crore was paid to these two firms during the period,” Chandran added.

Similarly, a private firm is collecting waste from bulk waste generators in the city. “It is the corporation which provides all facilities including vehicles for transportation. The firm is providing just the manpower required for waste collection. In the case of bulk waste also, corporation doesn’t have its own facility to quantify the waste rather than depending on the bills submitted by the firm,” Chandran said.