Many Chandigarh residents start segregating waste, efforts undone at MC’s collection centres
Rakesh Kumar, who collects waste from 115 houses in Sector 36, said nearly 50% households gave him wet and dry waste separately but all this came to nought as the garbage ended up mixing at the secondary collection points in many locations.
Two days after the municipal corporation (MC) rolled out new garbage project, there was some change on the ground as workers collected segregated waste from several sectors. However, all this came to nought as the garbage ended up mixing at the secondary collection points in many locations.
Rakesh Kumar, who collects waste from 115 houses in Sector 36, said nearly 50% households gave him wet and dry waste separately. “I kept the waste separately in my cart but when it was taken to the secondary collection point, all of it got mixed, as there was a single bin available to throw the waste,” he said.
Most of the sectors in the city have collection points where the entire waste collected from the area is brought by the collectors and the MC vehicles lift it and ferry to the processing plant.
Another garbage collector from Sector 27, Shamsher Singh, said, “We need to have an effective point-to-point system so that segregated waste reaches the processing plant,” he said.
Om Parkash Saini, chairman of Chandigarh door-to-door collectors’ society, said, “There are several areas having no collection points, forcing waste collectors to throw garbage in the open. Sector 56 is an example where the waste has not been lifted from the open for three days now.”
“While most of our men have partitioned their rehris and also spreading awareness among the residents, MC must strengthen its infrastructure to support waste collectors to streamline the system,” he said
The MC needs to strengthen waste collectors with modernised vehicles on easy loans, he said.
Baljinder Singh Bittu, chairman of the Federation of Sectors Welfare Associations of Chandigarh (FOSWAC), the apex body of residents’ welfare associations, said the problem with MC waste reforms is that there is no consultation with the RWAs. Residents are asked to segregate waste even when the overall infrastructure in weak.
While special commissioner Sanjay Kumar Jha could not be reached for comments, an official said they will check all the secondary points and add bins for the storage of wet and dry waste.