Drive to collect segregated waste gets positive response, says MCG
GURUGRAM: The Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) on Sunday started a drive to collect only segregated waste from households across the city.
MCG officials said 50 teams were deployed to monitor the waste collection drive. They added that that waste was collected only from households, which segregated it and they did not accept mixed waste.
MCG officials said that the first day of the drive witnessed a good response with a large number of households segregating the waste. Residents who did not separate the waste were also asked to segregate it.
A spokesperson for Ecogreen, MCG’s concessionaire for waste collection in the city said that they got a good response from a majority of the city residents. “An awareness drive was carried out and this has helped in the change of behaviour of residents. However, in some villages and colonies, our collectors faced problems but we are likely to overcome these issues as the MCG authorities are supporting us strongly. A number of officials were on the ground to monitor and support the waste management drive,” said the spokesperson, adding that the data for wet and dry waste collection at household level is being collated.
MCG officials, meanwhile, said that they directed the sanitary workers and the waste collection concessionaire, Ecogreen, to collect the waste only if it is segregated as dry and wet waste. They also said that for the last one month, they have been creating awareness among the city residents to separate their waste for collection by municipal workers. MCG joint commissioner (Swachh Bharat Mission) Naresh Kumar said that in accordance with the Solid Waste Management Rules 2016, the city residents have to segregate the waste as wet, dry, biodegradable and medical waste. “The segregation of waste in different categories is a must and action will be taken against those who violate the rules,” he said in a statement issued on Sunday.
Kumar said that MCG has been asking city residents to segregate waste for quite some time, and they have also launched a major awareness drive recently to ensure that this practice is followed in letter and spirit. He also said that 50 monitoring teams have been deployed across the city to ensure that only segregated waste is collected and municipal workers face no issues while collecting it.
Rishi Malik, a senior sanitation officer at MCG, said that a close watch is also being kept on private vehicles collecting garbage to ensure that no violation is being done by the private operators. On Sunday, five vehicles, which had collected mixed waste in violation of the rules, were seized by the MCG, he said. He also said that action will be taken against push-cart and cycle-cart operators if they collect mixed waste.
An MCG spokesperson said that MCG commissioner Mukesh Kumar Ahuja has issued strict directions that officials in all zones must ensure 100% compliance with regard to collection of segregated waste.
The MCG has been working on collection of segregated waste since 2018, when it had first announced that it will collect only segregated waste. In 2021, the civic agency again asked residents to segregate waste but that attempt did not yield positive results.
However, MCG officials said that this time they have decided to stop taking mixed waste from city residents and penalties will also be imposed in case of noncompliance. The recent order of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) directing the Haryana government to clear the waste dumped at Bandhwari and formation of a committee to oversee it has ensured MCG’s concrete steps to ensure waste in the city is disposed of properly.