A Finnish company to manage waste in major UP cities
The Finnish company ‘Clean Tech’ is set to handle waste management in major cities of Uttar Pradesh, including Lucknow. On February 11, 2023, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the state government and the firm. A new waste disposal plant may also be built in Lucknow as part of the company’s $2 million investment in waste management in the state. According to an official of the Lucknow Municipal Corporation (LMC), the AVS Group oversees the company’s work in India.
The Clean Tech team visited the Shivri plant last week. A meeting was held with the municipal commissioner, during which information about the plant’s operation and feasibility was exchanged. Soon after, the company’s CEO met with the state’s Urban Development Minister Arvind Sharma, and top officials from the urban development department. Following that, the company gave a presentation on its action plan for waste management work in UP cities, and the MoU was signed.
“It is clear that now this company will undertake waste management work in the city,” said Municipal Commissioner Inderjeet Singh. This will be the third company in charge of this task. The company, like the previous ones, will only do door-to-door waste collection and disposal at the plant, while the LMC will do the road sweeping.”
“Clean Tech has signed an MoU with the state government regarding waste management investment,” he said. The new company will assume responsibility for the work as soon as the government issues an order.”
“So much of garbage is accumulated at the Shivri plant that it may take more than a year for its disposal. The machines are also quite old. In this case, Clean Tech can establish a new plant,” added Arvind Rao, Additional Municipal Commissioner.
The city’s waste management plan was approved in 2007 under the JNNURM scheme for scientific waste disposal, and the waste management plant at Shivri became operational in 2012. Jyoti Envirotech, a city-based company, was initially tasked with waste management. Ecogreen Energy, a Chinese company, was given this responsibility in 2017. It also worked well for two years before failing to function properly. As a result, at the Shivri plant, a mountain of 20 lakh metric tonnes of garbage has accumulated.
