Shamshabad gets garbage management system and compost-making

Shamshabad: Scoring over other municipalities in maintaining a state-of-the-art garbage management system, with its own dumping yard on government land, the Shamshabad Municipality is going automatic in making compost out of organic waste using own machines procured recently. It is all set to begin managing the process independently.

Formed in 2018 by merging six gram panchayats, Satamrai, Kothwalguda, Chinnagollapalli, Thondupally, Ootpally and Shamshabad, the civic body shares its boundaries with Jalpally, Tukkuguda, Kuthur municipalities, apart from Rajendranagar, which comes under the sway of Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC).

Unlike other municipalities, that are struggling to deal with garbage collection and appropriate space for disposal, the Shamshabad municipality has its own dump yard-cum-solid waste management system on a sprawling two acres of government land at Kothwalguda.

"With a population of over 80,000 in all 25 wards, the municipality generates a total 22 metric tonnes of garbage every day, including eight tonnes wet and around six tonnes dry. This accounts for a total 14 tonnes of trash, while the remaining filth is classified as sanitary and hazardous waste that can't be mixed up with the stuff used for composting. With the help of these machines, we are now able to produce a fine variety of compost on our own that is largely used to promote greenery in the municipality," explained Sushma Mahender Reddy, chairperson, Shamshabad Municipality.

"As we have a sufficient place for a dump yard on a government land at Kothwalguda, we find it appropriate to procure both screening and shredding machines as well, with a fund to the tune of Rs 6 lakh. A fine variety of compost cane be prepared by us that could be used to feed plants being raised in nurseries", said Mohd Saber Ali, Municipal Commissioner.

"The stuff used for composting forms a volume of vegetable waste from markets, organic waste, like discarded leaves of trees collected from various colonies, and kitchen waste, being discarded by the dwellers. The whole operating process of organic waste with frequent windrowing every five days take almost 45 days."

"The dried up stuff then goes through the process of shredding and screening before taking a complete form. This organic compost is being used for plantation, avenue plantation and multi-layer plantation to promote greenery in the municipality," explained Anil Kumar, Environmental Engineer.