Northeast Frontier Railway initiates solid waste-management moves

GUWAHATI: Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016 identify the Indian Railways as a bulk waste generator and it also specifies the responsibilities of bulk waste generators. Waste hierarchy is the priority order in which solid waste is to be managed by giving emphasis to prevention, reduction, reuse, recycling, recovery and disposal, with prevention being the most preferred option and the disposal at the landfill being the least.

The Northeast frontier Railway (NFR) has taken up a number of projects for disposal of solid waste generated at railway terminals in an environment friendly manner. An Incinerator has been installed at the Mechanised Laundry at Kamakhya Coaching Depot. Bio-digester plants have been installed in Guwahati and Maligaon considering the huge generation of bio-degradable waste in various railway establishment and colonies. A bio-methanation plant at the NF Railway Central Hospital in Maligaon is also under installation and planned to be commissioned shortly.

The plant is being installed with an aim to contribute towards "Swachh Bharat Mission" and harnessing energy from waste realizing that "Waste is not waste until Wasted". The proposed plant is designed and fabricated based on the CSIR-NIIST Technology. Dry digestion is the basic of the process. Highly active thick microbial culture (sludge) in the reactor tank will be mixed with mechanically grinded waste and sufficient retention time is provided for efficient bio-methanation process. It will be able to treat any food waste including oil and fat, lemon, onion peel, bones etc. This eliminates the practical difficulty of sorting certain food fractions from bulk wastes.

Besides this, organised segregation of Multiple Solid Waste at 10 locations across NFR namely Katihar, New Jalpaiguri, Rangiya, Kamakhya, Guwahati, Lumding, Dimapur, New Tinsukia, Dibrugarh and Silchar is already in operation.

The average Bio-gas generation per day will be 9.0 cum for per plant of 50 kg capacity and the total Bio-gas generation will be 18.0 cum for 100 kg plant which is equivalent to half LPG commercial cylinder and can be used for various purposes, added the release by CPRO of NFR Subhanan Chanda.

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