Segregation of waste will reduce quantity by 20 pc, says civic body……Sharvari Patwa
The over-burdened dumping grounds in the city will soon get some respite. The BMC’s renewed initiative to segregate wet and dry waste before it is collected from your doorstep will reduce around 20 per cent of the total waste generated in the city, say civic officials.
The city generates over 6,500 metric tonnes of waste a day. This consists of bio-degradable waste, recyclable waste, inert matter and construction waste & silt.
Around 15-20 per cent of the total waste, according to officials, is recyclable while another large portion is biodegradable. The civic body’s earlier attempts to segregate waste had failed miserably and it had in 2005 planned to fine citizens if they do not segregate dry waste.
The civic body has come out with draft bylaws that would make segregation of waste mandatory for every household. In 2002, the BMC had planned a similar scheme which was launched by the then municipal commissioner K C Srivastava.
The civic administration now has two functional dumping grounds at Deonar and Mulund, while the state government has recently handed over a plot of land measuring 141.77 hectares at Kanjurmarg to the BMC for developing a landfill site. Around 4,500 metric tonnes of garbage is being dumped every day at Deonar, while around 2000 metric tonnes of garbage is dumped at Mulund ground daily.
The civic administration has planned to ask housing colonies, hotels and commercial establishments to segregate waste into dry and wet before the BMC collects it at collection centres.
“We have planned to introduce a segregation scheme throughout the city wherein citizens, shops etc will have to segregate dry and wet waste before it is collected from their doorstep,” said B P Patil, chief engineer (solid waste management).
“Once the scheme is implemented in the whole city, at least the recyclable waste will not be dumped in dumping grounds,” he said.
The civic administration will penalise those who do not follow the scheme. “We will impose Rs 1,000 on those who do not segregate waste. While smaller establishments will be fined anything between Rs 100 and Rs 500, bigger ones will attract a fine of Rs 1000,” said Patil.
“We will set up garbage centres where rag pickers can collect and segregate items of dry waste and sell them,” said Patil. “Even ALMs will be involved in the process to spread awareness about the scheme.” The scheme will be strictly implemented from April 1.