Delhi Government campaign on solid waste management from August 15

The campaign intends to involve residents, students, teachers and markets to spread awareness of waste segregation and disposal.

The Delhi government will launch a campaign on solid waste management across the city next week, senior government officials said on Friday.

Solid Waste Management Bye-Laws 2018 for the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT) were notified under which the onus of disposing waste has been put on the generator. (HT FILE)

To make the drive effective, the government has directed all the district magistrates to strategise and roll out the campaign in their respective zones.

“The campaign will be launched from August 15, Independence Day. It will include door-to-door awareness drives, workshops, competitions involving residential welfare associations and schools,” an official said on condition of anonymity.

The campaign intends to involve residents, students, teachers and markets to spread awareness of waste segregation and disposal.

In January last year, the Solid Waste Management Bye-Laws 2018 for the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT) were notified under which the onus of disposing waste has been put on the generator.

Delhi generates approximately 14,000 tonnes per day (TPD) of solid waste out of which about 10,500 TPD of waste is collected by five civic agencies, including the three municipal corporations, the New Delhi Municipal Council and the Delhi Cantonment Board.

As per Section 4 of the bye-law, it is the generator’s responsibility to segregate the waste at its source, essentially into three categories -- biodegradable (wet waste), non-biodegradable (dry waste) and domestic hazardous waste. Each of them should be stored in differently coloured bins. The standard colours are green, blue and black for wet, dry and domestic hazardous waste, respectively.

Gated colonies, RWAs, hotels and restaurants are required to ensure in-situ processing of wet waste as far as possible. The recyclable waste from bulk generators, commercial areas and hotels needs to be collected by authorised waste pickers or recyclers.

“Despite the MCDs carrying out drives to make people aware of the rules, the practice of mixing all kinds of domestic waste into one plastic bag widely continues. It was therefore felt that a mega campaign should be launched to help the MCDs in performing their duties better,” said another official.