AHMEDABAD: It might sound like a contradiction, but for the city to be clean, community bins - the huge waste collectors found at prominent locations - have to go. A study conducted by Urban Governance and Management Studio of
CEPT University's Faculty of Management analyzed the solid waste management pattern of Jodhpur ward, encompassing parts of Anandnagar, Satellite,
Vastrapur and SG Road areas. It was found that about 63% of the people under survey were availing of door-to-door solid waste collection. While 15% were using community bins, 22% were dumping in the open.
The studio is mentored by Profs Manvita Baradi and P P Vyas along with Dr Mercy Samuel and Dr Gayatri Doctor. The study was conducted by Pallavi Keswani. Keswani said that a detailed survey of the area was carried out for 30 days to study the pattern of solid waste disposal by residents and the collection by civic authorities.
"The pattern that emerged showed that some of the ward areas were not covered as they were located on interior roads," said Keswani. "Sometimes the contractors decided not to visit some of the bins simply because their daily quota of waste collection was completed. Segregation was not more than 1%." Thus, the team - that has also made a presentation to the civic authorities - proposed a plan with three phases to completely ban littering on roads and to ensure 100% door-to-door collection of segregated waste.
"It was found that the residents kept dumping the garbage on the location even when the bins were removed," said Samuel. "We have proposed a multi-pronged plan which includes collecting fines from societies and individuals who are found flouting norms." Doctor said that the first step is to remove the bins and propagate 100% door-to-door collection with awareness campaigns.
In another project, conducted by Divija Shah, the team looked at issues in Khadia-Jamalpur ward and found similar problems. Steps as segregation of waste and pots for composting organic waste were suggested.
Picture for representational purpose only.