A council meeting of the Kalamassery municipality on Saturday approved a proposal to carry out biomining at the plastic dumping yard of the civic body in North Kalamassery.
Kalamassery is among the 12 municipalities shortlisted by the Department of Local Self Government for the first phase of the project, which is partly funded by the World Bank and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).
The council decided to address concerns of residents of wards 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 near the biomining site. The elected representatives in these wards had urged the authorities to ensure that soil and water sources would not be affected while removing legacy waste, which had been lying at the site for long.
A drone survey was done at the site to assess the extent of the presence of legacy waste in the nearly 1.6-acres of the yard. Legacy waste is lying at a height of nearly eight metres from the ground level.
The government has invited tenders for carrying out biomining in the 12 municipalities at a total cost of ₹50 crore. Of this, ₹9.2 crore has been earmarked for the Kalamassery municipality which has the highest quantity of legacy waste. According to the municipality, around 46,700 metric tonnes of legacy waste is lying at the site.
