Garbage trucks roll in and out of Dhapa dumping ground. A Telegraph picture

The Calcutta Environment Improvement Project (CEIP) is taking up a Rs 100-crore scheme for scientific management of the city’s solid waste, based on the recommendations of a Canadian consultation firm.

The scheme, funded by the Manila-based Asian Development Bank, entails recycling and composting solid waste and exploring the possibility of generating power from it.

“If everything remains on track, we will start implementing the scheme in phases from January 2008,” said Rajiva Sinha, project director of CEIP.

The city generates around 3,000 tonnes of solid waste daily, which is dumped in Dhapa, off the Eastern Metropolitan Bypass. The capacity of the dump, spread over 20 hectares, is shrinking by the day, said Sinha.

Under the CEIP scheme, paper and plastic items, comprising around 12 per cent of the waste, will be recycled, instead of being dumped. Another 12 per cent, mostly composed of perishable food items like vegetables and mutton or chicken bones, will be deposited in the composting units for generation of manure.

Once the project comes through, Sinha pointed out, a huge chunk of the waste load will be taken off the Dhapa ground.

The proposal for generating power from waste is still being worked out, as there is not enough supply of “high calorific-value waste” required for the process.

The consultancy firm has also proposed segregation of waste material to ease recycling and composting. The CEIP is planning to engage non-government organisations and rag-pickers for the job.

As the present landfill site has almost reached its saturation point, the authorities have identified another 113 hectares nearby. Half the plot will be used as dump and the other half will be turned into a waterbody or a green belt or both. “We may have to opt for public-private partnership to develop the 113-hectare plot,” Sinha said.