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A Preview Report Of The New Garbage Treatment Plant – by Clinton Vaz Tuesday - May 31, 2016 To begin, I’m no expert on waste management, but I do run a business with Emma, my wife. I have also been working with waste since 1999, and have seen 8-10 waste treatment plants in India as well as some in Europe. This again, does not make me an expert, but I can say that with my hands on experience, I do understand how they work. So first, let me give you an explained tour of the waste treatment plant before I talk about the details. This treatment plant has been designed to handle mixed waste. However, it also can handle separated wet and dry waste if collected separately. Built using machinery mainly originating from the Dutch firm DB Technologies, the plant is modern and impressive. Machines and operations are monitored in a control room and are run by 30-50 trained staff. External buildings surrounding the plant have Goan architecture and landscaped gardens are aesthetically pleasing. The plant run by Hindustan Waste Treatment Pvt. Ltd reportedly cost 143,00,00,00/- As waste is brought in, it arrives in various trucks such as compactors, tipper trucks, dome shaped waste trucks. All trucks get weighed in at the weighbridge at the entrance. Trucks then park inside the arrival bay. Here a staff member directs the truck to empty its contents on the shop floor. Here, mostly mixed waste was seen, however some dry waste originating from the highway cleaning contractor was also seen separately on the side. A loading excavator then picks up this waste, and feeds it to the bag cutting machine. Bag cutters slice open bags exposing its contents for further treatment to the grade separator. Any odours emanating from the incoming waste is sucked out through vents that lead to the bio filter outside the plant. Mixed waste flows on to the grade separator which separates larger waste items by its star shaped discs. Smaller objects, including organics fall through the gaps onto a screw conveyor that leads to the OREX. The OREX (Organic Extruder) is supposedly the heart of the waste treatment plant. To put it simply, it is a very large lemon squeezer. The OREX simply squeezes out the organic substances through a giant metal sieve, leaving behind (mostly) inorganic waste. The squeezed out organic material then gets flushed to a biogas reactor for methane gas generation that will converted to electricity that would be used to power some of the plant operations. After gas extraction is complete, the spent slurry gets pumped to a dewatering unit followed by a grading unit that refines the compost. Compost is then stored in a large shed for maturation before it is sieved and bagged for sale. The liquid matter is sent to an Sewage treatment plant that treats sewage, leachate and other waste water generated onsite and the treated water is used in the gardens around. Larger (mostly non-biodegradable waste) that has bypassed the OREX flows onto a manual hand sorting conveyor, where 8-10 staff hand separate out recyclables or specific non recyclables fractions out of the stream of waste flowing by. Picked out waste is dropped into fraction specific chutes that collect each waste fraction in collection stables below. Waste that is leftover after picking is finally dropped by the conveyor in the last but largest stable as rejects. When each collection stable is filled to capacity, a small excavator popularly known as a bobcat pushes out the contents of the stable into a ground level conveyor that takes the waste fraction to an automatic baler. The baler operates automatically, ejecting bales horizontally as waste is fed in. Each bale’s approximate weight is 400 kgs. Bales are then lifted off the baler’s arms by a forklift and stored in the faction’s allocated shipping container. 35 containers sit outside the waste treatment plant for this purpose. The container is then dispatched to the recycler when filled. Rejects are baled and sent for co-processing. Outside the plant, a sanitary landfill with proper linings is being built. The only waste going to landfill is the fine rejects that come out of the OREX. This mostly consists of tiny bits of inorganic items like plastic, glass, stone and other inert material. ======================================================= MY COMMENTS: What the author Clinton Vaz explained in his article is fine .He also said that he is not an expert on Garbage Treatment Plant. After going through his article I did not find any mention of our recent inaugurated Garbage Treatment Plant at Saligao. I was told by one of my friend who has knowledge in such waste management and he is a microbiologist by profession. When he asked me whether i had been for the inauguration , I replied that I had my previous commitment and I could go there although Sidharth Kuncolienkar invited me as I am grateful to him. When I asked him what about him? He replied nobody invited me neither the Goa State Pollution Control Board where he works as Consultant. Sorry to mention that such personalities may be there many who have not yet seen the garbage Plant. It is pity that such people are tossed out, and where is the transparency in that case. This friend said this Plant is not that huge in size but very huge in cost. This amount goes from public exchequer funds. I had no comments but I said that I need to go one day and look at it and then I should be able to comment at certain extent although I am not an expert. My simple question, why Parrikar needs to inaugurate each and everything in Goa when he has lots of important issues of Defense in Delhi. Let him give such powers to others especially to his subordinates, Or are they a rubber stamp? I was told that Parrikar once this plant works well he is likely to start an another plant at Curchorem that means we are going to get two huge plants and hope we have funds for it. This friend plans to take me one day to this plant with the permission from GSPCB to see how it works. I have not yet decided as I am very busy with my personal work. Stephen Dias, Dona Paula Mob: 9422443110
