Ranchi, September 3: The State Urban Development Agency (SUDA) is preparing to introduce upgraded and eco-friendly technologies for processing municipal solid waste across urban local bodies (ULBs) in Jharkhand, officials said.
As part of the initiative, SUDA has invited firms to establish state-of-the-art waste management facilities aimed at maximising resource recovery, reducing dependence on landfills and ensuring compliance with environmental norms.
SUDA director Suraj Kumar said household-level segregation of waste continues to pose a major challenge despite sustained efforts by urban local bodies.
“Waste segregation at the household level remains a challenge despite efforts. Unsegregated waste makes it difficult to efficiently utilise technologies like composting or bio-methanation. We are aiming at not only disposing of waste but making the most out of unsegregated waste by exploring innovative technologies that are sustainable and eco-friendly,” Kumar said.
The proposed facilities will be required to comply with national pollution control standards covering emissions, leachate management and overall environmental safety. Officials said modern, controlled processing systems equipped with advanced pollution-control mechanisms can significantly reduce particulate emissions compared with conventional open dumping.
Urban local bodies across Jharkhand generate around 100 to 150 tonnes per day (TPD) of municipal solid waste, creating the need for scientific processing and disposal instead of hazardous open dumping.
Officials said existing waste-processing facilities in several ULBs do not have adequate mechanisms to segregate and process mixed waste on-site. This has resulted in low recovery of recyclable materials and other byproducts, besides contributing to the accumulation of waste at landfills.
Under the proposed model, urban local bodies currently bear around 15 per cent of the total waste-processing cost, while the remaining expenditure is met through revenue from door-to-door waste collection fees.
The new arrangement seeks to reduce and eventually eliminate the financial burden on local authorities. The government will provide land, water supply and municipal waste to the selected agencies, but will not provide any financial subsidy for processing operations.
The implementing agencies will be allowed to retain the revenue generated from the sale of processed byproducts, including compost, biogas, refuse-derived fuel (RDF) and recyclable materials.
Officials said the revenue-sharing model would provide a commercial incentive to private players to maximise resource recovery from waste while reducing the volume of garbage sent to landfills. It is also expected to encourage existing waste-management agencies to adopt upgraded technologies.
“The ultimate aim is to select agencies that will design, finance, install, and operate a waste processing system without any financial charge to the government, leveraging the value in waste to sustain the operations,” Kumar said.
The initiative is expected to strengthen scientific waste management in Jharkhand’s urban areas while promoting resource recovery and reducing the environmental impact of indiscriminate dumping.
