By Tika Ram Upreti

Jhapa, Feb. 27: If all goes as planned, Damak, in Jhapa district, is set to produce energy from the waste, and the efforts towards that goal is gaining steam.

According to Damak Municipality's Environment Department Chief Gyanendra Chaudhari, a waste processing centre, which converts discarded materials into fuel such as gas, compost manure, and liquid fertilizers, is being set up for that purpose.

Damak Municipality alone collects some 10 tonnes of waste out of the total 15 tonnes generated in all of Damak. Of these, 66.52 percent are organic, 6.55 percent are paper and 5.37 percent are plastic.

Waste segregation centre, situated at Damak-3 near Hamse Dumse Community Forest Area, organic wastes are first segregated from inorganic ones.

They are then decayed in a huge tank for at least 15 days, a process that produces methane biogas as the bi-product. The biogas is then purified and stored in cylinders, reported Chaudhari.

The remnants of the process are used to make manure and fertilizer.For effective processing of waste, a 22-metre-wide and 8.5-metre-high concrete tank is also being constructed by Next Era Energy Pvt. Ltd, in collaboration with Rohan Traders Pvt. Ltd. 65 per cent of the construction has already been completed, reported the construction project Chief Drona Thapa.

In addition to generating 1084 kg of biogas daily, 10,000 kg of compost manure and 7,005 litres of liquid fertilizer can be produced from that tank, he said.

According to the supervisor of the project, Bimal Khatiwada, the tank will come into operation by mid-July. Its cost is estimated to be over Rs. 205 million. While Rs. 147 million has been invested by the contractors, the remaining will be financed by Alternative Energy Promotion Centre