Noida RWAs get central govt award for handling solid waste

NOIDA: The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) on Wednesday honoured three residents’ welfare associations (RWAs) of Noida for proper handling of solid waste. The objective

NOIDA: The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) on Wednesday honoured three residents’ welfare associations (RWAs) of Noida for proper handling of solid waste. The objective of the award is to encourage RWAs for doing their bit to make the city a cleaner place to live in, officials said.

HT Image

A BIS team had conducted inspection of the waste handling work done by the RWAs and subsequently selected three winners. The Noida authority had in September 2017 signed a memorandum of understanding with BIS that works under the Union ministry of consumer affairs, food and public distribution.

The BIS team assessed and finalized winners for the ‘Solid Waste Management Quality Award 2018-19’ on the basis of their performance in the solid waste treatment category. Sector 34 federation of RWAs secured first place with ₹1.5 lakh prize money, second position (with ₹1 lakh prize money) went to Sector 47 RWA, and third winner Sector 30 RWA got ₹75,000, said the officials.

“Our team conducted an inspection, made an assessment and then selected three winners. The objective is to encourage all RWAs and socially active residents so that they work better in waste treatment and make the city cleaner,” said BK Sinha, a scientist and senior official with BIS.

The officials said that all three RWAs were making compost out of waste generated at their campus.

“We collected all kinds of waste at our community centre, segregating the same and making compost out of it. We did not send any waste to landfill site. And we were using the compost in our parks and green belts in our sector. By doing so, we not only saved money spent on buying compost for green areas, but also made the authority’s work easier that make efforts for waste collection and treatment,” said Dharmendra Sharma, general secretary of Sector 34 federation of RWAs.

Sector 34 made compost by putting the food and other waste at pits at the community centre. “But now we have, with the help of the authority, set up a biogas plant that is making compost out of waste and also biogas to be used in our community centre,” said Sharma, who is leading the ‘waste to compost’ project.

Officials of the Noida authority could not be reached for comment.