As of Monday, only 470 of 5,304 bulk-waste-generating housing societies in the city have begun waste segregation and installed wet waste composting units on their premises. A directive issued in June by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) had warned the housing societies of garbage collection being stopped if they failed to begin composting by October 2.
However, in the past four months, only 373 societies took steps to turn wet waste into compost. On Monday, the stipulated deadline, 97 housing societies set up wet waste composting units. The BMC said it does not have data on the number of societies that have demanded an extension to the October 2 deadline.
The BMC has decided to give a three-month extension to housing societies that are spread over an area of above 20,000 square metres and generate over 100 kg of waste daily. However, the societies have to submit an undertaking to the BMC giving reasons for its inability in installing composting units.
Kiran Dighavkar, Assistant Municipal Commissioner (Solid Waste Management), said many housing societies brazenly ignored the deadline. Mr. Dighavkar said, “The BMC will not stop collecting waste from these societies. We will send notices if they do not set up the composting plants and then stop collecting garbage.”
BMC commissioner Ajoy Mehta, Assistant Municipal Commissioners, Deputy Municipal Commissioners and senior officers visited a few housing societies across its 24 wards that had installed composting units.
Mr. Mehta said the BMC is assessing the reasons why housing societies couldn’t meet the deadline. He said, “Once the assessment is done, the BMC will decide on setting further deadlines for the completion of the project.”
To inform and assist citizens on segregating waste and setting up composting units, the BMC has set up help desks in each of the 24 wards. Advance Locality Management Groups, NGOs and social media have played an important role in spreading awareness of the project.
Success stories
One of the housing societies that Mr. Mehta visited was Nehru Nagar slum colony in K-West ward, which met the ‘zero waste’ target with the help of the Slum Adoption Programme (SAP). The colony, which has a population of 30,000, generates 10 tonnes of waste daily and SAP volunteers set up composting units in an area of around 5,000 square feet to turn 200 kg of waste into manure every day. The dry waste segregation unit in the colony includes a plastic crushing centre.
The BMC hopes to improve the capacity of the project so that 2,000 kg of wet waste can be turned into compost. Prashant Gaikwad, Deputy Municipal Commissioner, K-West ward, said the results showed that any slum colony with a population of 30,000 could easily achieve the ‘zero-waste’ target.
The Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) headquarters and residential area in H-West ward in Santacruz also came in for praise. Situated across 1.37 lakh square metres, the BSNL headquarters turns 120 kg of waste into manure every day. About 140 kg of vermicompost is also produced from the wet waste generated from the garden on the premises. To dispose of dry waste, the BSNL has installed a plastic crushing machine on the premises. Mr. Mehta handed over a certificate and award to the BSNL staff for implementing effective waste management practices.
On Monday, as part of the ‘My waste, my responsibility’ project, Mayor Vishwanath Mahadeshwar inaugurated an organic waste converter, which can handle 50 kg of waste at a time, at his official residence.