The BMC is planning to increase the number of dry waste collection vehicles and the dry waste centres in the city, after several activists and corporators alleged that the segregated waste is eventually mixed in the dumping grounds. Currently, there are 46 dry-waste collection vehicles and 36 centres which are managed by different NGOs. 

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What will BMC do? Additional municipal commissioner Vikas Kharge said, “More than penalising residents now, we will try and put the house in order first. Not only we are planning to increase the centres, but we will also increase the number of dry waste vehicles as per need. That will encourage residents to segregate and also rehabilitate rag pickers,” Kharge said. He added that currently two vehicles per ward has been allocated to collect dry waste. 

How many societies got notice? Records collected from the solid waste management department of the civic body shows that so far 42 per cent of the 34.71 lakh housing societies in the city, has received notice from the BMC so far, for not segregating their daily waste, while for 77 per cent of them, the BMC does every day door-to-door waste collection.The BMC has also sent notices to 53 per cent of commercial establishments for not segregating waste. In 96 per cent of housing societies have received notices in zone VII, comprising R north, R central and R south wards, which is the highest. Only 36 percent notices have been sent in zone VI, comprising N, S and T wards.

Segregation of waste 2,000 notices have been issued by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation to housing societies in T ward covering the Mulund area, in the last two months, for not segregating their daily waste, but BJP group leader in BMC Manoj Kotak alleged that the waste is anyway mixed at the dumping ground, since there is no separate zones for dry and wet waste in the dumping ground.

Waste getting mixed? “What is the point of issuing notices to residents if the waste is getting mixed at the dumping ground. The BMC has a huge potential of earning revenue by selling off the dry waste, but nothing on that front has been done as yet on that front,” said Kotak.dna on November 30 had reported that even though the BMC sends notices to housing societies and commercial establishment for not segregating waste, they are yet to start a proper follow up and monitoring system after sending the first notice. 

Waste segregation Municipal solid waste management (SWM) bye-laws of 2006 mandate for waste segregation at source by residential societies. Section 368 of the MMC Act states that it is the duty of owners and occupants to haveseparate bins for wet and dry waste.

Failure to comply with a notice within seven days will make a society liable for prosecution under Section 477 of the MMC Act. Fines range between Rs 2,500 and Rs 10,000 can also be slapped on the societies.However, a civic official admitted that there is no proper monitoring mechanism for that.