VASCO: Garbage has piled up at Mormugao Municipal Council’s waste treatment plant at Sada after baling of the plastic waste came to a grinding halt.
An excavator has been pressed into service to create more space to accommodate new waste. Baling of the existing garbage is required before the plant overruns its capacity.
Around 30 tonnes of garbage is generated within the municipal area of which 13 tonnes comprises dry waste and 17 tonnes wet waste. Wet waste is transported to the waste treatment plant at Saligao while plastic from dry waste is sent to cement companies after the baling process.
A contract for baling was given to a person, who was planning to segregate plastic bottles, cans, cardboards and other reusable materials from the garbage for selling purpose.
However, the workers collecting the waste have started to keep the reusable materials for themselves with the contractor refusing to continue with the operations stating that he is incurring losses. Following this, MMC sent its sanitation workers for baling. However, faced with manpower shortage, the civic body cannot send workers for bailing on a regular basis. Therefore the baling operations at the plant have come to a halt for the past 14 days.
It is pertinent to note that Bits Pilani had provided a baling machine capable of processing 5 tonnes of dry waste. However, the machine broke down due to lack of maintenance.
