Hundreds of villagers, a majority of them women, protested on the roads leading to the plant, blocking the officials and a contingent of police.
The agitators even created a virtual fire line on the way by putting earthen pots on boil in a 'symbolic' enactment of 'pongala ritual'. Several people, including woman constables, were injured as enraged villagers threw boiling pots at the police when they sought to make their way.
Police used water canon and arrested and removed scores of protesters.
Police said the situation is still tense in the area but efforts were being made to bring it under control.
The Vilappilsala waste treatment plant about 20 km from the city, where the garbage from the state capital is processed, has remained closed since December last after the Panchayat locked it up alleging that it was a big health threat.
The stand-off between the city corporation and the Panchayat has resulted in a big crisis in the waste removal and treatment from the capital city. Several rounds of talks mediated by the government had failed to end the tangle.
Against this deadlock, Kerala High Court had recently directed the government to exercise its authority and open the plant, using the help of police if necessary.