Biomining of old waste at Kumbalathumuri begins

KOCHI The biomining of legacy (old) waste has begun at the Kumbalathumuri dumping site in Kothamangalam. The waste has accumulated at the site over the past 35 years.

Kothamangalam municipal chairperson Bhanumathi Raju switched on the biomining machinery. The scientific remediation project is being executed jointly by the Kothamangalam municipality and the Kerala Solid Waste Management Project, according to a release issued here on Wednesday (November 11, 2026).

Around 27,000 metric tonnes of legacy waste accumulated at the Kumbalathumuri site will be remediated and processed through biomining. The contract for carrying out the scientific biomining operations has been awarded to SMS Limited, a Nagpur-based firm, it said.