Korean company setting up waste-to-energy plant in Meghalaya

Shillong, May 17

A pilot project for a refuse-derived fuel plant is being set up by a Korean company in Tura, the headquarters of West Garo Hills district in Meghalaya.

Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma, along with Ambassador of South Korea to India, Chang Jae-Bok on Tuesday inaugurated the pilot project set up at the landfill site at Rongkhon Songital. This is a collaboration between the state government, Tura Municipal Board, and Chamhana GW of South Korea.

The project in Tura has been envisioned as a working model demonstration to manage the daily incoming municipal garbage of Tura town and its adjoining areas.

Inaugurating the project, Sangma said that the entire concept of turning waste into energy would completely redefine people's perception of waste and garbage disposal.

"When I visited this site I really wanted to do something but I didn't know what and how. I just knew that we need to reverse this process of dumping garbage here and make this place green again. More importantly, we must find a way, a technology that could enable us to ensure that the waste we generate in future could be used for a lot of things," the Chief Minister said.

He informed that the 35 MT capacity plant installed was conceptualised back in 2019 but due to the Covid-19 pandemic, it was put on hold.

The currently installed waste-to-energy plant would work by converting all waste except recyclables like metals, glass, wood, e-waste, and construction waste into fuel briquettes.

The fuel briquettes can then be used as a replacement for coal and charcoal.

The Chief Minister was optimistic that if the pilot project is successful, the government will expand and install similar waste conversion plants in other parts of the state.

Terming the project as a win-win for all, the Ambassador of South Korea to India, who is on his maiden visit to Meghalaya, said that the pilot project is the start of many meaningful and mutually beneficial collaborations that Korea and India could have in the field of technology that has the potential to greatly enhance the quality of people's lives.

"Our Embassy in New Delhi would make an effort to further develop this kind of mutually beneficial projects and cooperation in the future," he said.