Breathe air, not fumes

BMC to chalk out 10-yr plan to reduce solid waste from reaching landfills, dumping grounds

With an aim to reduce the city’s solid waste from reaching the landfills and dumping ground, the BMC is all set to chalk out an action plan for the next 10 years. The civic body has appointed a consultant to study the solid waste management proposal.

“Drawing up a time-based action plan for the management of solid waste by each city and town is essential for the growing population and development. Else, the increasing waste will lead to an unhealthy environment. For a city like Mumbai, a full-proof long-term plan will play a vital role,” said a senior official from the BMC’s solid waste department.

He said, “The plan will focus on decentralisation, stringent rules on segregation at source and ways to encourage more housing societies to segregate waste. All this will help to achieve the target of reducing solid waste reaching the landfill and dumping ground.”

Currently, the city generates 6,500 metric tonnes of waste every day. Over the years, the BMC has implemented many measures, projects and campaigns for proper disposal and segregation of waste. But the problem still persists. The capacity of landfills and dumping ground under the BMC has also exhausted. There have been multiple court orders and directives to discontinue dumping of waste at landfills and to shut them in a scientific way. However, no system has been set up yet.

“We have appointed consultants to prepare a long-term action plan for solid waste management on the lines of the development plan prepared for

Mumbai,” said a senior BMC official. For years, the BMC has been appealing to citizens to segregate wet and dry waste. However, there is not enough mechanism to carry this out and most housing societies are still not able to implement this. Waste-to-energy projects are also being set up but are yet to be completed.

The consultants will study the system from June 2020 to June 2021, which will include working of manpower, machinery, financial provisions, non-evaluation of the process

and objectives to be achieved. They will then prepare an action plan for the next 10 years, which will include raising awareness among citizens about waste disposal through education and communication. The plan is expected to be ready by May 2022.

Once ready, it will be mandatory for all officials to work according to this.

However, if the Centre or state introduces new rules and regulations on solid waste, they will have to be included in the plan.