Waste creators approach BMC

Mumbai: With the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) threatening that it won’t collect garbage after October 2 if it is not segregated and treated at the source, housing societies, hotels and restaurants are making a beeline to the civic body seeking its help to set up segregation and waste treatment plants on their premises.

In the solid waste management exhibition held in Worli, 15,500 people visited out of which 4,700  have approached the BMC, extending their willingness to set up waste treatment plants.

The civic body has threatened to fine and prosecute housing societies for failing to segregate the garbage into dry and wet waste and treat it in their premises by October 2. It has made mandatory for them to provide two types of garbage bins within their premises — one for dry waste and another for wet.

The notices have been issued under the Greater Mumbai Cleanliness and Sanitation Bye Laws (2006), making it mandatory for housing societies to segregate dry and wet waste.

This is in addition to the BMC making it compulsory for bulk waste generators to dispose off garbage on their premises only.

The bulk waste generators include big housing societies, five star hotels, malls and industries, which produce more than 100kg of waste daily.

According to the civic officials, as per the provision of municipal solid waste rules 2016, these bulk waste generators have been asked to provide facilities like organic waste converter, vermi-composting and bio-methanation in their backyard to treat waste at the source.

The BMC had organised a solid waste management exhibition to create awareness among people about various methods for segregation and treatment of garbage.

About 70 agencies, active in solid waste management, participated in the exhibition.

Only 40% societies sort their waste
With only 40 per cent of the housing societies in the city segregating their waste, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) faces an uphill task to achieve their goal of 100 per cent results by the end of the year. Every day, over 8,000 metric tonne garbage is generated in the city — most of it is not segregated. The BMC carries it to the three dumping grounds — Deonar, Mulund and Kanjurmarg but is unable to process it. With the Mulund and Deonar dumping sites full and out of capacity, the civic body has expedited its efforts to tackle the garbage menace. The BMC is dumping 2,500 MT of garbage at its Kanjurmarg dumping ground and processing it there. According to civic officials, segregation is the first step of waste management. Dry and wet waste needs to be disposed and recycled differently. The BMC has ordered citizens to put two separate dustbins in the house to keep wet waste from mixing up with its dry counterpart. Bits of plastic, for instance, are dry waste components, which if not disposed properly can become an environmental hazard.

As a part of the Swachh Mumbai Prabodhan Abhiyan (SMPA), the BMC has trained several women’s self help groups to set up vermin-culture compost plants in housing societies and other places, which produces bulk waste. These plants treat the green waste with the help of earthworms.

“We have a panel of women’s self help groups, which offers their services to people at reasonable prices. We have also created portable vermi compost plants, which are easy to install at a small place. The cost of setting up the plant is around Rs 25,000,” said Subhash Dalvi, chief nodal officer, SPMA.