PMC collects 61MT of solid waste in December 2022

Festivities in December, from Christmas to New Year’s Eve, were cited as the most possible reasons for the increase in solid waste collected, officials from PMC said

The solid waste department of Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) collected 608, 570 metric tonnes (MT) of solid waste from January 2022 to December 2022, with December recording the highest amount of solid waste collected with more than 61MT.

Waste pickers from Swachh, Pune, said they often found Christmas decorations, liquor bottles and parcel boxes among the materials they collected during the clean-ups. (HT FILE PHOTO)

Festivities in December, from Christmas to New Year’s Eve, were cited as the most possible reasons for the increase in solid waste collected, officials from PMC said.

Ketaki Ghadge, solid waste department, and nodal officer for Swachh initiative at PMC, said, “December usually sees an influx of visitors coming to the city, and a lot of them buy gifts. So, while the number is high, it is not an unusual trend.”

Waste pickers from Swachh, Pune, said they often found Christmas decorations, liquor bottles and parcel boxes among the materials they collected during the clean-ups. Christmas decorations such as hats, thermocol balls, and plastic trees, were among those found. Plastic, parcel boxes, gift boxes, and biryani matkas (pots) were also collectables found. Wet waste such as pizza, biryani, roti and the such were collected.

They also stated that the garbage accumulated after New Year generated in at least two to three extra waste buckets. Most of the garbage was non-recyclable material.

Harshad Barde, director of Swachh Pune, said, “This sort of waste collection happens right after every festival. We always see a huge amount of single-use plastics and thermocol in the collected waste, even though they have been curbed by the government for a long time. We need to change what we are manufacturing for decorations and recycle it.”