GUWAHATI, April 10 - An environment-friendly and cost-effective device for collection and disposal of municipal solid waste (MSW) has been developed by city-based mechanical engineer Sanjib Sabhapandit, who has by this time carved a niche also as a filmmaker.
The first prototype of the device is now ready at Bamunimaidam Industrial Estate 5th bye-lane shed here.
Sabhapandit told this newspaper here that the device developed by him with the assistance of textile engineer Pulakesh Sarma and named �Nirmal,� has a collection part with an automatically or manually operated compressed container, an initial segregator, a conveyor belt, a polythene shredder, a water jet sprayer, a plastic skimmer, a vibrating sieve and an automatic mixture.
The device can thus provide waste plastic for recycling and biological solid waste to prepare organic manure.
Sabhapandit said that while designing the device, he had made an attempt at doing away with the problem of MSW littering the public places so as to provide a clean environment to the people. With the device, he has also sought to do away with the risk of manually handling the MSW, said the mechanical engineer.
Each of the collection part with an automatically or manually operated compressed container is estimated to cost between Rs 50,000 and Rs 60,000. The entire device, if around 100 such collection units are provided to it, would in the long run cost around Rs 1.5 crore to Rs 2 crore, Sabhapandit revealed.