NMMC’s holy trash cache

Corporation to convert 21 tonne nirmalya into fertilizer to keep the city clean

Let’s hope that other municipal corporations’ go ‘green’ with envy after seeing Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation’s (NMMC) effort to tackle their waste in an ecofriendly manner. NMMC’s Solid Waste Management (SWM) department plans to convert the 21 tonne nirmalya (wet waste) comprising garlands, flowers, tulsi, shami, fruit peels etc into fertilizer at its Turbhe landfill.

Recently, NMMC was adjudged as the third cleanest city in the country. The corporation also received a 5star rating for being a garbage-free city.

NMMC municipal commissioner Abhijeet Bangar said, “The city achieved the third rank because of the citizens’ invaluable contribution. They showed the same enthusiasm of cleanliness during the Ganeshotsav.”

An official from the SWM said that these are some steps that brought feat to the corporation. “We have installed separate bins for the collection of wet and dry offerings at all the Ganpati immersion sites,” the SWM official said. There are 22 main immersion sites and 135 artificial ponds across all wards of the city.

“We received support from residents as they were self-disciplined in maintaining social distance and they used the bins for wet and dry waste,” added the officials.

The civic body had collected around five tonne and 210 kg of wet waste on one-anda-half-day immersion day, two tonne and 255 kg on fifth-day immersion, 11 tonne, and 645 kg on the 6thday immersion. “Thus, we collected around 21 tonne and 265 kg of Nirmalya or wet waste during the four days. A separate vehicle has been arranged for the transport of this Nirmala to Turbhe landfill and where these offerings will be processed to make fertilizer,” said the official.

“We have a similar plan for the 10th day of immersion as the rush will be more and more amount of wet waste will be collected,” said the official.