PANCHGANI
PANCHGANI–6 TPD –Cleanest Hill Station
WHAT HAS WORKED IN PANCHGANI
Panchgani’s IEC programme, ably carried out by swachhagrahis, has been a thumping success as the town has managed to achieve 100 per cent source segregation. Secondary segregation in collection vehicles has been an efficient and smooth initiative.
The hill station has made the best of its unique economic and geographic conditions. Being an eco-sensitive zone, it could not go down the incineration or waste-to-energy route. Instead, the town has invested in a plethora of material processing and recovery systems, using the pollution tax levied on tourists to create and operate these systems. The city’s waste infrastructure has matured to gain the ability to process almost all of the city’s waste. The centralised organic waste processing unit works in tandem with decentralised composting at the household and bulk waste generator levels. The material recovery facility and biomethanation plant have been successful as well. By installing solar and wind power at the processing centre, the town has taken another step towards a green waste management system.
LESSONS LEARNT
- People are the key
- A trial and error approach finally bore fruit
- Waste is not a liability but a resource
- Combining centralized infrastructure
- An economic and geographic hurdle can be turned upside down into an advantage.