Vegetable and fruit waste generated by at Vazhakkai mandi dumped on the main road near Gandhi Market in Tiruchi. | Photo Credit: M. Moorthy

A machine designed to shred banana stems at Vazhakkai mandi, the wholesale banana market functioning adjacent to Gandhi Market in Tiruchi, remains non-functional for more than a year, causing huge accumulation of waste generated by the market.

Spread over about two acres, the Vazhakkai mandi encompasses more than 50 wholesale and retail vendors and produces around 15 tonne of waste per day, which increases during special occasions.

In 2018, the Corporation installed a pulveriser machine to handle the excessive waste generated at the banana market. The machine which is used to shred and discard banana stems remains inoperable for more than a year.

The shredding machine was set up to ensure hygiene at the market where banana bunches accumulate and take up a large portion of the space until it is cleared. “With the pulveriser, we can shred the stems and turn them into a powder, which will be sent to the compost centre for making manures,” said S. Kanagaraj, a retailer.

The vendors claim that they are forced to dump the waste on the roads, as the market lacks proper garbage bins and machines to convert vegetable waste into manure. “Since the machine is inoperative, we are finding it difficult to discard the generated waste and as a result, the waste is dumped on the road,” said Rangan, another vendor.

“Waste produced by the market is indiscriminately dumped on the road, which adds to the shrinking of the motorable space,” said S. Nagaraj, a commuter.

According to Mr. Rangan, the civic body must either properly remove the garbage every day or fix the non-functioning shredding machine in order to solve the long-standing issue.

When contacted, a senior official of the Corporation said the garbage was been collected regularly, and additional vehicles had been sought to remove waste more frequently. “The machine will be soon repaired to process the waste,” he added.

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Printable version | Sep 12, 2022 9:00:35 am | https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Tiruchirapalli/waste-shredder-remains-inoperative-at-banana-market/article65879200.ece