AMC to remove all bins from roads by October 2

As per the guidelines of Swachh Bharat Mission, the civic body will lift all dustbins from roads by October 2. Starting from July, the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) has removed around 400 dustbins already.

This has contributed to the beautification of streets and making it litter-free, with the ulterior goal of making Ahmedabad a zero waste city. The city had set 2030 as the target to make the city zero waste; however, with the collective effort of various departments, the civic body will reach the goal by 2025.

According to the director of Solid Waste Management, Harshad Solanki, "The corporation is heading for zero bins on roads/streets or public places. There is a mechanism to lift garbage from door-to-door. We are taking only segregated waste from the source."

"In the city, there are some 1,043 bins at 971 spots, of which, 400 have already been removed; the spots have been beautified with permanent rangoli," added the director.

So far, 1,000 vehicles have been roped in to collect garbage from the source, which is segregated into dry waste and wet waste. Even the collection vehicles have two different compartments for dry and wet waste. The 1,043 bins do not have a mechanism for segregated waste.

"From such bins, on an average 600 tonnes of garbage is collected, but recycling becomes a pain point since the waste because is not segregated," Solanki said.

The city generates around 4,000 metric tonnes of garbage, whereas roughly 2,000 metric tonne gets recycled. Recently, the civic body has also given a contract for recycling religious (pooja) waste. Around 84 lakh metric tonne of garbage has accumulated in the past four decades.

TELLING NUMBERS

Total bins on roads 1043

Total spots 971

Bins removed 400