Mr. Thirugnanasambandam Chandrasekar
Superintending Engineer (i/c), Solid Waste Management,
Corporation of Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India

1. The City

Chennai is India’s fourth largest city. It has an estimated population of 7.06 million. About 1.3 million people are living in the slums, but The Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board is in the process of constructing multi-storey houses (buildings) to rehabilitate slum people, and to control the expansion and the emergence of slums in the city.

Enormous growth of more than 2 million vehicles in the city causes air and noise pollution, accidents and parking problems in the city, so The Corporation of Chennai has developed greenery in the road junctions, and along the center median and road. The treated waste water is being used for irrigation. One lakh (100,000) tree saplings have been planted along the roadside, one month before the onset of the monsoons. The Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board supplies drinking water and collects and disposes of sewage from households. The management of wastewater includes reducing contamination of water sources, and ensuring the clear flow of rainwater into storm water drains. The Storm water network is maintained by the Corporation of Chennai, and they are de-blocking the network lines as a pre-monsoon measure to ensure the free flow of storm water into the discharge points.

Other initiatives are a low cost sanitation project which eliminates the generation of wastewater and pollution of water sources, and the Chennai City Rivers Conservation Project, which are both funded by the World Bank.

Measures for wastewater management include the extension of sewage treatment facilities, the provision of low-cost sanitation for slum pockets near and along the city water ways, and the provision of solid waste management facilities, like community collection bins for the deposit of waste by the inhabitants. On-site industrial treatment facilities for wastewater from the bulk generators like industries and commercial establishments are also insisted upon.

Chennai's mandatory rainwater harvesting facilities

Rapid population growth and industrialization have been overwhelming the city’s solid waste management and sewerage systems. The water system is designed to separate waste water from rainwater, but the extensive slums, housing about 1.3 million people, have inadequate facilities, leading people to dispose of human and household wastes into the storm drains. Thus the drains into waterways are heavily polluted.

There is an absence of a full-fledged network to send all wastewater into a treatment facility, and difficulties for people in slums to get individual sewer connection due to their incapacity to afford the user charges. Furthermore, there has been no new Sewer Treatment Plant (STP) in the last 13 years due to cost, land, designing and operating issues.

Providing solid waste management services to the slum pockets along the river banks is difficult because the narrow lanes impede movement of collection vehicles and provision of community collection bins for the collection of waste. This results in both disposal of waste and defecation into the waterways.

At present, no wash treatment, waste treatment or sanitary landfill is available at the landfill sites, so the toxic leach formed seeps into the ground and pollutes the ground and water supplies. Solid wastes are improperly carried to the landfill, and the fill itself is inadequately equipped and managed. The fills themselves have become health hazards.

The city’s greenery expansion is a welcome sign. Much now needs to be done to manage solid wastes more effectively and to protect water sources from pollution.

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2. The Proposed Action Plan

A combination of infrastructure development and education will be carried out. The two landfill sites are to be converted from arbitrary disposal sites to controlled emplacements of waste, with environmental mitigation measures in respect of dust control, prevention of fire and smoke, and daily use of landfill earth cover etc. Hence, it has become absolutely necessary for the Corporation of Chennai to design for complete utilization of green waste, dry waste, recyclables and construction materials, so as to maximize the recovery of usable products and thereby minimize the burden on the landfill.

The plan will incorporate education campaigns, acquisition of waste transportation vehicles, and construction at landfill sites for both storage and power generation. Development of facilities for slum areas will also be carried out, and the effective greening program will be greatly expanded.

Key Steps:

1. Further intensification of source segregation of waste
   A door-to-door campaign will be introduced at the doorsteps of all households in all streets.
A committee will be formed under the leadership of the Ward Councilor with NGOs, resident welfare associations and local politicians, to create awareness among the public about waste segregation. Action will be initiated to educate school children about the importance of source segregation through school teachers and education officers.
In order to ensure effective community participation, regular meetings will be arranged with the representation of local residents' welfare associations and NGOs.
2. Transportation of waste collected by covered vehicles
   In order to prevent the waste spilling and scattering on the roads from the existing open trailers used for collecting and transporting, they will be replaced by compactor vehicles (covered) in a phased manner.
   80 (covered) compactor vehicles will be purchased in the 1st phase with financial assistance from the central government.
3. Construction of modern transfer stations
   New modern stations at a cost of about 10 crowns (of Indian rupees), will be constructed in place of the existing old ones in order to facilitate more storage of waste and transportation by larger capacity vehicles to landfill sites. This will minimize the number of trips and save on labor force and fuel consumption. Each transfer station will have the capacity to store around 100 MT of waste.
4. Solid waste treatment facility and landfill
   Proposal for the integration of waste for the recovery of;
   a- compost - compost processing plants at each landfill will be set up with the processing of 800 TPD.
   b- refuse derived fuel - plant and machinery for refuse derived fuel in the form of pellets will be set up at all landfill sites.
   c- electricity from refuse derived fuel - plant and machinery will be set up for generating thermal power – 10MW from refuse derived fuel.
5. Development of sanitary landfill
   Sanitary landfills will be constructed at the landfill sites to receive inert mixed waste and remnants from the processing unit of compost and RDF in order to increase the lifetime of the landfill. A separate leach collection tank will be constructed to receive the leach produced from the sanitary landfill.
6. Prevention of pollution in the city waterways
   Extension of sewage treatment facilities will be carried out by providing low cost sanitation for slum pockets near and along the city waterways. There will also be provision of solid waste management facilities like community collection bins for deposit of waste by inhabitants.
7. Development of greenery and parks along the roads and waterways

Time Frame: June 2007- August 2008