Only segregated waste to be collected from Thursday

Starting Thursday, the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) will collect only segregated waste from households in the city, officials said, emphasising that mixed waste will not be picked up. The civic body also plans to start penalising residents found dumping accumulated mixed waste in public spaces from later this month

Starting Thursday, the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) will collect only segregated waste from households in the city, officials said, emphasising that mixed waste will not be picked up. The civic body also plans to start penalising residents found dumping accumulated mixed waste in public spaces from later this month.

Officials said that waste should be segregated in three bins, categorised as biodegradable waste, dry waste and reject sanitary waste (medical waste). (HT Archive)

Officials said that waste should be segregated in three bins, categorised as biodegradable waste, dry waste and reject sanitary waste (medical waste). The segregated waste will be collected from homes in vehicles having separate compartments for the same, following which it would be taken to the four waste transfer stations for processing.

Vaishali Sharma, additional commissioner, MCG, said that residents have been trained on how to segregate waste, with special sessions organised at various localities.

“It is known to all that waste should be segregated while disposing of, according to the norms of Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016, and we had given residents time till November 10 to understand how it should be done. Special training sessions were also conducted at different localities, while we were setting up infrastructure at our end. From Thursday onwards, if any resident gives mixed waste, it will not be collected from their doorstep and after November 20, we will start issuing challans to the violators. If anyone tries to dump the accumulated mixed waste in their neighbourhood, then they will be fined ₹5,000,” said Sharma.

The MCG has also issued a toll-free number — 18001801817 — for residents to lodge complaints or get more information on the process. Sharma said that residents can also lodge complaints if the collection vehicles do not have separate compartments for segregated waste.

Dhruv Bansal, spokesperson, Gurgaon Citizens Council (GCC), an umbrella body of residents’ welfare associations (RWAs) in the city, said, “There has been no intimation from MCG on how the segregated waste will be collected from the residential societies. I am still getting feedback from residents that the waste collecting vehicles visiting their areas do not have separate compartments. If the systems are in place, then why is it not being implemented? If vehicles with separate compartments are sent, then residents who are not segregating waste at present will also start following it as, otherwise, waste will not be collected.”

Officials of Ecogreen Energy, the MCG’s concessionaire for door-to-door collection of waste in the city, said that they are prepared to collect segregated waste and have informed their staff that mixed waste should not be collected.

Sanjeev Sharma, the spokesperson for Ecogreen Energy, said, “We have trained all our staff on how segregated waste must be collected in separate compartments, in all waste collecting vehicles. Waste will be collected as biodegradable (wet waste, horticulture waste), medical waste and non-biodegradable (recyclable waste). There will also be a small box for domestic and hazardous waste, such as used paint containers, pesticides and other items. The segregated waste will be brought to the four transfer stations at Kadipur, Atul Kataria Chowk, Sushant Lok and Beri Bagh for processing.”

On December 25, 2020, the MCG observed its first Zero Waste Day, when only wet waste is collected from households. Since mid-March this year, the corporation has been observing zero waste days every Tuesday to train residents on waste segregation.

Officials said that residents have been given six months of training in segregation of waste and hence, decided to carry it out on a full-time basis ahead of the Swachh Survekshan 2022, for which ‘Kachra alag karo’ (separating waste) is a major component.

In the last week of October, the corporation issued directions to its sanitation wing and officials of Ecogreen Energy to make citizens aware of what they need to do to segregate waste. The MCG officials had then said that the segregation of waste is also aimed at converting wet waste into compost and recycling dry waste to the maximum possible extent so that the waste load carried to the overburdened Bandhwari landfill can be reduced, as around 2.5 million tonnes of legacy waste is currently dumped at the landfill.