Treat waste in your society,

THANE: To ease its burden of waste management, the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) has proposed to give tax rebates to societies which treat their own waste.

The proposal to give a five per cent rebate to societies will be tabled in the general body meeting on Saturday.

Thane’s population comprises more than 20 lakh residents. However,thecitystilldoesnothave adumpingground.Itgenerates700 metric tonnes of waste every day, which is dumped at a landfill in Diva. The corporation, in the past few months, has devised methods of processing solid waste, instead of sendingittothedump.Treating waste at the residential societies will decrease the amount of waste dumped at Diva.

“Societies, which set up a plant to accommodate at least three other societies’ garbage, will be eligible for a rebate of 7.5 per cent,” said a TMC official requesting anonymity.

The rebate is only applicable if no garbage is handed over to the corporation.

According to the Municipal Solid Waste Rules, 2000, every organisation which generates waste is responsible for segregating dry and wet waste.

Recently, the corporation made it compulsory for societies to segregate their solid waste, resulting in more than 35 per cent societies segregating their waste.

“Waste segregation is compulsory. We do not collect garbage unless it is segregated. We will extend technical guidance to societies thatwishtosetupwastetreatment

plants,” he added.

Waste segregation is still not carried out in the slums, where more than 300 tonnes of waste is generated daily.