Do your bit for Delhi, learn how to segregate your garbage

At least 9,100 tonnes of garbage is shipped out of homes, shops, malls, schools, hospitals and markets to the 2,500 community bins, daily. Of these, East corporation generates 2,200 tonnes, North 3,800 while South civic body daily has to remove 3,100 tonnes of garbage.It is here that an army of ragpickers and a few sanitation workers hired by the municipalities segregate the garbage, picking plastic, metal, cardboard and anything that they can sell to the recyclers. After sending 4,500 tonnes to waste-to-energy plant for incineration and 850 metric tonnes for composting, at least 3,800 tonnes makes its way to the city's dump sites in Narela-Bawana, Bhalaswa, Okhla and Ghazipur. For transporting the garbage from community bins to landfills, the South Corporation has engaged 174 trucks and dumpers, North Corporation 150 and East Corporation 85.North and South bodies have also engaged concessionaire in eight zones for collecting garbage door-to-door through tippers and trolleys. The South Corporation has converted community bins into fixed compacting stations wherein garbage is segregated and compressed before being taken to landfill. “We have already installed fixed compacting stations at 15 places in central zone and 100 more are targeted in near future,” said a senior SDMC official. To change things on the ground, the Solid & Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016, were notified in April 2016.“The new bylaws emphasise on collection and segregation of garbage at source, developing local segregation points, integration of informal sectors for segregation of waste and proper disposal. If all goes according to plan, we will be able to implement the Delhi Municipal Corporation's SWM rules by mid 2017,” said a senior south corporation official said.The rules will make it mandatory for any waste generators, be it domestic or commercial, to segregate garbage into three categories.“They will need to separate wet (biodegradable), dry (plastic, paper, metal, wood, and so on) and domestic hazardous wastes (diapers, napkins, blades, batteries, mosquito repellents). If they don't do that then it will invite penalty,” said PK Gupta, commissioner, North corporation.The civic bodies need to implement these if there has to be any change in the garbage mess of Delhi. With active participation from people of the city, hopefully, in the next five years the capital city will turn into a cleaner and greener place.