On Day 1, waste segregation fails to take off across Chandigarh

As part of the compromise reached on Monday, garbage collectors had promised to lift dry and wet waste separately.

Garbage collectors, who returned to work on Tuesday, as well as residents were caught unprepared as the municipal corporation rolled out its waste segregation plan in Chandigarh on Gandhi Jayanti. The day also marked four years of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.

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The MC has made waste segregation mandatory under its solid waste management policy. Even Rs 200 penalty has been proposed for households, but it has been waived till December 2. The focus right now is on creating awareness.

As part of the compromise reached on Monday, garbage collectors had promised to lift dry and wet waste separately.

Baljinder Singh Bittu, chairman of the Federation of Sectors Welfare Associations of Chandigarh (FOSWAC) — the apex body of residents welfare associations, said residents have no problem in segregating waste, but the problem lies with waste collectors who have no system in place to lift the waste separately.

“The MC made a mess out of the whole waste reforms. The private garbage collectors need to be better equipped if the civic body is serious about waste management,” he said.

‘Partitioned rehris soon’

Meanwhile, Om Parkash Saini, who is the chairman of door-to-door garbage collection society, put the blame on residents.

“Most residents did not hand over segregated waste on Tuesday. Most of them were busy clearing their garbage that had piled up in the past days,” he said.

Saini said garbage collectors will start lifting segregated waste from Wednesday. “Most of the collectors are getting their rehris partitioned to collect wet and dry waste separately. We will start requesting residents to hand over segregated waste and ensure that it is collected effectively,” he said.

However, Saini said there needs to be better management on the part of MC as well.

“The collected waste is usually dumped at the MC’s collection centres, located in almost all sectors. However, these centres have no provision to keep wet and dry waste separately,” he said.

‘Adopt composting to reduce burden’

Meanwhile, mayor Davesh Moudgil said the civic body will resolve all issues to make sure that waste is collected in a segregated manner.

“We have two months to streamline the system and motivate residents. Meanwhile, we will also buy our own vehicles and equipment to take over waste management from private hands,” he said.

Moudgil also urged people to convert their wet waste into compost at household level to reduce the burden on the processing plant. “People can convert their vegetable waste into rich, organic manure, and grow flowers and veggies using it,” he said. “I have not disposed of wet waste since adopting home composting recently.”