Bhubaneswar: The civic body has decided to set up a dedicated 50-tonne per day (TPD) non-veg waste processing unit to deal with the bulk of non-veg waste of the twin cities on a daily basis.The project will not cost Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC), as it would provide land to a private party that will set up the plant. Besides non-veg waste from Bhubaneswar and Cuttack, neighbouring civic bodies can also depend on the processing plant.BMC officials said the plant would process fish waste, poultry slaughter waste, meat waste and other biodegradable animal by-products generated within Bhubaneswar and adjoining urban areas.At present, there is no dedicated scientific system for collection, transportation and processing of such waste within BMC limits. As a result, a considerable quantity is either mixed with municipal solid waste or dumped indiscriminately in drains, open plots and water bodies, leading to foul odour, environmental degradation, contamination of surface and groundwater, blockage of drainage systems, vector breeding, public health hazards and greenhouse gas emissions, officials said.“The proposed project aims to transform non-vegetarian waste into a valuable resource by converting biodegradable animal waste into commercially useful products such as poultry meal, poultry oil and other value-added by-products through environmentally compliant technologies,” said BMC deputy commissioner N Ganesh Babu.He said the project will be developed under the design, build, finance, operate and maintain model. The selected private agency would follow the model at its own cost, risk and responsibility, without any capital investment by BMC.Around four acres of land would be required for the project and BMC would provide the land to the private agency.Officials said Bhubaneswar generates about 30 tonne per day of non-veg waste, while the plant would have a capacity of 50 tonnes per day, allowing neighbouring urban bodies such as Cuttack and Khurda to send their non-veg waste for processing.“The private agency will be the sole collector of such waste from bulk generators. It will charge certain user fee on the fish and meat vendors generating such waste for to be collected by the private agency,” Babu added.
