Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma today inspected the ongoing installation of the waste segregation machine at Rongkhon Songgital in Tura, along with Public Health Engineering Minister Marcuise Marak and Chairman of the Meghalaya Urban Development Authority Wailadmiki Shylla.
Upon installation of the machine, loaders and excavators will be utilised to excavate the legacy waste from the landfill site. The waste will be separated into three categories: organic/soiled fraction, combustible and inert waste, a press release said today.
“The legacy waste will be segregated with the use of technology, which will then be converted into different products including compost,” Sangma said.
He mentioned that the technology being employed has been tried and tested, citing its use at the Marten landfill site in Shillong and in Assam’s Tinsukia.
“We are hopeful that with the use of technology, we shall be able to address the issue of legacy waste in other towns of the state as well,” the CM added.
He also informed that the government has directed all municipalities in the state to ensure waste segregation at the household and community levels for better waste management in the future.
“The legacy waste at Rongkhon Songgital has been causing problems for the residents of Tura, and we hope that once the project is operational, the problem will be largely resolved,” he said, while stating that the project should be operational in the next few months and waste management from the landfill site will commence soon, to be completed within a period of one year.
When asked if the waste will be converted to energy blocks, the Chief Minister said, “We had attempted in the past to produce energy blocks from the legacy waste but the results were not encouraging. Hence, the new technology will segregate different types of waste, including plastics, and other kinds of waste. The company will then sell this waste accordingly. It will be segregated and sold to interested buyers. However, compost will be created from the biodegradable waste.”
