Bandra waste management centre leads the way, collects most trash in Mumbai

Eight months ago, the BMC handed over the Bandra centre (in H/West ward) to an NGO

A waste management centre at Bandra (West) collects the maximum amount of dry waste in the city. The 25 metric tonnes of dry waste, which is collected, segregated and then transported daily from this centre is more than any of the other 37 similar centres across Mumbai.

A man sort bottles at the Bandra centre in Mumbai on Friday. (Satyabrata Tripathy/HT Photo)

Eight months ago, the BMC handed over the Bandra centre (in H/West ward) to an NGO, which hired 112 employees, including drivers, to work there.

A senior civic official told HT that the BMC would now open 10 more waste segregation centres in next few months.

Hyder Ali Sayyed, president of the NGO Aasra Welfare Association, said 10 former rag-pickers are employed at a time to separate paper, plastic, trash bags, glass, pbottles, cloth, thermocol and tyres in the first stage of the management process.

“The waste sent here comprises mostly of trash bags made of polythene. We separate about 4-5 tonnes of these bags,” said Sayyed.

At the centre, all plastic waste is manually separated into 14 categories and trash bags into six. The centre has a grinding machine that shreds and compresses PET bottles to be sent to a recycling unit.

Ward officials said this was the only centre that segregates glass.

After segregation, the waste is sent to different recycling units across the country.

Recycled waste is used to make PUC pipes, stuffed toys, carpets, craft paper, bottles and glass products.

A little amount of wet waste is still sent to dumping grounds from the centre, even though dry waste and wet waste is supposed to be segregated at source.

“Citizens are not fully aware of the segregation process, and sometimes it is difficult to separate the two. We get 5% to10% wet waste here,” said Sayyed.

Sharad Ughade, assistant municipal commissioner of H/W ward, said, “This is an advanced centre where we will soon start segregating e-waste also.”