Local bodies is Kerala have been directed to prepare a transportation plan for streamlining movement of waste collected from households and institutions to material collection facilities (MCF).
The Suchitwa Mission has prepared a model transportation plan, including all the basic data regarding waste collection and transportation, for the local bodies to follow.
The local bodies are required to set up at least two mini-material collection facilities in each ward for keeping the non-biodegradable waste collected at the local level, before it is taken to a larger MCF catering to a number of wards. From the MCFs, various agencies collect the waste for processing. The Clean Kerala Company collects plastic waste from major local bodies, while other agencies are contracted to transport various kinds of segregated waste to recycling centres.
The transportation plan would ensure timely collection and transportation of waste as well as prevent piling up of waste at the mini-MCFs and MCFs. For the preparation of the transportation plan, the local bodies will collect data, including the amount of non- biodegradable waste collected monthly by the Haritha Karma Sena members, the frequency of waste collection and the percentage of coverage of households.
Zones
The wards in each local body will be divided into zones with the vehicles for collection deployed at specific zones on each day and waste collection carried out over multiple cycles throughout the month in each zone.
Local bodies have now started using pre-used or refurbished shipping containers as temporary MCFs for storage of non-biodegradable waste. At times, the collection and transportation of waste from collection points gets delayed, leading to such points turning into waste dumps over a period of time.
