Mumbai: BMC gives up on 'no roadside bin' dream

After 13-long-years of planning and execution to remove garbage bins from roads, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) realised that these bins are here to stay. In a recent report, the Solid Waste Management Department stated that there is no solution for more than a thousand bins across the city. However, the BMC is taking measures to remove other 1,099 bins in coming months.

In a bid to make city roads dustbin-free, the BMC started removing community garbage bins in 2005. Now, under Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, the civic body has started its campaign against roadside bins again. According to data available with the Solid Waste Management Department, there are 2,273 dustbins in the city. Govandi, Mankhurd (M ward) area in eastern suburbs, Andheri east to Santacruz east (K East) in western suburbs and Wadala area (F / North ward) have most of the garbage bins. Though the BMC can get rid of most of the bins from K East and F North ward, bins in Mankhurd and Malad cannot be removed in recent future.

After years of efforts, the civic body came to the conclusion that more than 50 per cent of bins in public places cannot be removed. Out of 2273 bins, 1174 bins will stay on the streets. Vishwas Shankarwar, deputy municipal commissioner of solid waste management department told DNA, "We are planning to eliminate more and more bins from roads and public places. The BMC arranged for door to door waste collection two to three times a day depending upon the area. We arranged for skip loaders to collect garbage from narrow streets. This will help us get rid of many bins and garbage spots in the city."

"However, there are localities on hilly areas where door to door garbage collection is not possible. Some slums are so dense that even skip loaders cannot reach the bin spot. So we concentrate on others bins which can be removed by some measures," added Shankarwar. As per data collected from wards, the BMC needs 42 stationary compactors to eliminate 1099 bins.