THE Mayor and City Council (M&CC) this year plans on making full use of certain age-old technologies, such as the use of the composter and the bio gas digester, that could result in saving costs for cooking gas and electricity.

In fact, head of M&CC’s Solid Waste Management Department Walter Narine is so passionate about the initiatives that for this year, he wants to assist every school in Georgetown to obtain a composter.

Furthermore, he has big plans to use a biodigester to power the entire Solid Waste compound at Princes Street, thus reducing its dependence on Guyana Power and Light (GPL).

For the longest while now, City Hall has been heavily indebted to GPL for electricity costs.

“What we’re attempting to do over the next week is to set up one small-scale composter in every school which will aid in our school programme this year. We want to provide them with bins, teach them how to do composting and also give them the composter. So all they need to do is throw their waste into the composter, give it a gentle turn and within another six weeks, you have compost.

“If they do that every day, then they have the compost generating and there is no cost to the school; we know how cash-strapped the schools are,” explained Narine in an interview with the Guyana Chronicle recently.

Narine said he will be approaching a few private institutions for funding to help with the project since it is one that is not budgeted for 2017.

METHANE GAS

“We are also setting up a biodigester which basically breaks down the food waste or your cow or horse manure and produces methane gas,” Narine informed. Methane gas can be used for cooking and power generation.
Again, schools with cafeterias will be able to benefit from this technology so that they will not need to spend money on cooking gas. The intention is also for it to be used in all of the municipal compounds.

“What I want to do is to convert the methane gas into electricity and power this compound with the current and take us off the grid. We have direct access to the organic waste, which is from the municipal markets. A lot of people could do it but they don’t have access to the waste. For them to do it, they will have to incur transportation cost which we don’t have to. That’s where we have an advantage,” Narine expressed.

He continued: “We in the municipality don’t really need the gas to cook but households can do that to allow them to be less dependent on cooking gas. If you do make this connection to your septic tank; your septic tank produces methane gas daily and it is being wasted; you make the connections and you don’t have to buy cooking gas at all.”

A DISCOURAGEMENT

Narine observed that one of the reasons Guyanese do not really tap into this technology is because it has to do with human faeces.

“And they don’t want people to hear they’re cooking with that. From the time they hear about it, they laugh and make all sorts of remarks. But when you have no food to put on your table, those people who laughed and encouraged you not to do it won’t give you anything.”

These two initiatives will come in good for the municipality, Narine noted and the M&CC stands ready to share them with other agencies who are interested.

“People are not exposed to the technology. They would need technical advice on how to set it up because methane gas is very dangerous if the vessel is not sealed properly.”

Narine said he will be looking to set up a team from his department that can install the biodigester for anyone who is interested.

“They can call us, we can go and teach them the technology and set it up for them. They will have to pay for the materials of course. You make this small investment and you don’t have to buy cooking gas anymore.”