Although Municipal Solid Wastes (MSW) pose serious problems in all the cities and towns of Kerala, there was no serious attempt for management of it in any of the cities of Kerala. Thiruvananthapuram, the capital city of Kerala, is a highly urbanised city and has been facing serious health and environmental problems due to improper and insufficient environmental sanitation programmes. This project had envisaged to study the various options for the sustainable management of solid wastes of Thiruvananthapuram City and to identity appropriate technologies for processing. The major objectives of the project were to prepare a comprehensive action plan for the management of municipal solid waste of the Thiruvananthapuram City and to establish an Environmental Information System. The project also envisaged to carryout implementation of management programmes in a pilot scale at Palkulangara Ward.

Detailed information on quantity, quality and other aspects of wastes generated in the city from various sources like households, markets, hotels, hospitals and other institutions were collected through sample surveys and field visit. Based on the analysis of the data collected, a detailed action plan for municipal solid waste management for each ward was prepared, which included the collection, segregation and transportation mechanism for different types of waste, processing of wastes both in a centralised and decentralised way, the technologies which can be used for each type of wastes etc. A technology optimisation study for the both biomethanation and Vermicomposting were carried out. The feed back from the field-testing shows that, biomethanation is not suitable as a technology for processing of degradable wastes at household level, but it has an advantage for using at a community level or in institutions. It also showed that Vermicomposting can be a viable option both at household level and at community level for processing of degradable wastes. A pilot scale implementation of Vermicomposting at households in Palkulangara residential area and Chirakulam slum area was carried out. Both the implementation programmes showed a very positive response from the public, on the basis of which a detailed action plan for Municipal Solid Wastes Management of Thiruvananthapuram City Corporation was formulated.