Greater Noida to hire private agency for door-to-door waste collection

According to the plans, the agency will collect waste from residential, commercial, institutional, and rural areas, among other places

The Greater Noida authority has decided to rope in a private agency to collect door—to—door waste for a fee. The authority has issued a tender for ₹213 crore to enlist a private company in the next two months that will handle waste collection, transportation, and treatment, officials aware of the matter said on Wednesday.

Greater Noida generates approximately 250 metric tonnes of waste per day. (HT Archive)

“Once the company is chosen, we will integrate door-to-door waste collection, transportation, and treatment for improved city results. The agency will be involved in waste collection and treatment in all sectors and villages,” said Medha Roopam, the Greater Noida authority’s additional chief executive officer, adding that applications must be submitted by May 29, and bids will be opened on May 31, 2023.

According to the plans, the agency will collect waste from residential, commercial, institutional, and rural areas, among other places, said officials, adding that waste from other public places, garbage vulnerable points, road-side bins, green spaces, parks, stadiums, slums and unauthorised areas, and colonies or commercial areas, will be collected and dumped at the Haibatpur and Lakhnawali treatment sites.

Officials said Greater Noida has 124 villages and more than 80-90 sectors and that waste, street sweepings, and silt must be collected from villages and sectors. In addition, the authority intends to collect waste from non-bulk waste generators through door-to-door collection by this centralised concessionaire.

“The centralised concessionaire must procure and place dustbins in these villages and collect waste from all sweeping vendors. For example, manual sweeping vendors could transfer street sweepings and silt collected from drains to a designated black bin at specific points. The concessionaire or new company will coordinate with all vendors in villages and sectors for waste collection and transportation to the designated site for proper treatment,” said an official familiar with the matter.

Greater Noida generates approximately 250 metric tonnes of waste per day. It also has as many as 150,000 households where sanitation workers collect the waste. The authority has divided the city’s 22,000 hectares into four zones, with different vendors providing door-to-door collection and transportation.

“The four zones will be integrated with the new company, and vendors will work as a team for better collection, transportation, and treatment,” said a second official.

The authority wants to charge ₹80 per month per house of 200 square metres, ₹100 per house of 300 square metres, and ₹150 per house of size 300-500 square metres under the new plan for daily waste collection. If new plans are implemented, it will cost a flat or apartment ₹170 per month for daily waste collection.

According to officials, user fees for industrial units will range from ₹500 to ₹2,000, depending on plot size.

“Once the new agency is in place, we will decide on the imposition of user fees. However, we have yet to deliberate and plan how to implement this new system,” Roopam added.

Residents believe that the current waste collection system needs to be revised.

“Despite Greater Noida being more than 30 years old, the authority has yet to implement a sustainable mode of waste treatment. They do not recycle or process the waste properly. Currently, they collect it and dump it anywhere, causing health problems. We hope that the new system will change the situation,” said Sanjay Singh, a resident of sector Omicron I.