The solid waste management of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) feels that there is an urgent need to create an apex body that will solely handle the city's cleanliness and sanitation.
This was discussed during a talk — Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, Zero garbage: Lessons for Mumbai — organised by the Mahatma Gandhi Centre, a joint initiative of the NGO Observer Research Foundation and Triratna Prerna Mandal.
BMC special officer on duty Seema Redkar acknowledged there were several problems associated with waste management in the city. “Unlike other countries, here there is no continuity of services by all stakeholders; 53% of the city are slums and there is no incentive for citizens participating in the waste management process,” she said.
She recommended creating awareness on the subject at a primary school level, publication of ward level reports, levying a fee on generation of additional waste, and giving incentives to societies or ALMs doing a good job in waste segregation and processing.
She also emphasised on the need for decentralised processing of waste, saying it would reduce the load on the existing dumping grounds.
Mumbai generates 9,200 metric tonnes of waste daily and only two dumping grounds in the city are operational currently — at Deonar and Mulund. The other two are stuck in a series of clearance processes.
Consulting editor of dna RN Bhaskar, who was a speaker at the event, however, emphasised that the city doesn't need dumping grounds as the waste can be processed and recycled. “Sweden has abolished the concept of dumping grounds. The idea of incineration of waste is also not suitable for India because it's a warm country. The need of the hour is to set up gasification system at a cluster level, which is much more economically viable,” he said, highlighting some of the superior waste management techniques of Sweden and a few parts of Maharashtra.
Chairman of ORF Sudheendra Kulkarni said, “The BMC needs to get more serious about managing waste. It also needs to treat its own workers, the safai karmacharis better, and provide them better living conditions.”
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