Swachh Bharat a heartening story: How Ghaziabad got it right

GHAZIABAD: A plant to clear construction debris, another to convert vegetable waste to compost and door-to-door collection of garbage — these are some of the factors that have helped Ghaziabad transform itself from a civic laggard to one of the best performers in the nationwide Swachh Bharat rankings for two years in a row, shooting up from 35st in 2017 to 13th this year.

The change is most visible in its public spaces, which are now much cleaner, and in the near-disappearance of open vats from the city, several of which have been redeveloped into green belts.

But this is not to say that everything is working perfectly in the city. A major challenge before the civic agencies now, for instance, is to find a new dumpyard and clean up Pratap Vihar, the site used earlier but stopped by the NGT. Without that, the efficient waste management mechanism the city has set up will derail.

The other is to maintain this performance and break into the top 10 as population continues to rise steadily and will do so even more when the Delhi-Meerut Expressway is complete.

But for other places in NCR, there are many lessons to learn from Ghaziabad. TOI takes a detailed look at the key measures taken by Ghaziabad in building an impressive model for others to follow.

Managing construction debris

A plant in Hindon Vihar that became functional in December last year recycles 400 tonnes of debris from construction daily.

According to Prateek Joshi, who operates the plant leased out by the GMC, “The city produces 3,000 tonnes of waste in a month and a large quantity is ferried to this plant for recycling.”

“The loose soil is segregated and sold to private parties which use it for levelling the ground while large stones are recycled into mortar chips and used for construction purposes. A part of it is also used for making tiles which are in great demand,” added Joshi.

GMC official AK Mishra points out that the waste, which would otherwise be scattered all over the city, has been utilised judiciously because of this plant. “The plant, apart from providing livelihood to about 25 people, is also a source of revenue generation. It has helped us in effective disposing of construction waste which the city produces in abundance,” added Mishra.

Disposing of waste from religious places

To check the waste from religious places that was earlier being dumped into the Hindon river, the GMC in October last year launched a compost plant in the Sai Upvan shrine.

Mishra observed that during visits to such places, people do not usually dispose of waste like flowers and leaves due to religious sentiments.

“We conducted a survey and identified 91 religious sites, including temples, gurdwaras, mosques and churches and it was found that 1.5 tonnes of such waste is generated daily so we decided to start a separate compost plant which dealt with this only,” he said.

The GMC introduced dedicated vehicles for ferrying the waste and issued toll-free helplines. “We receive nearly 15 calls a day for picking up this waste,” said Mishra.

Door-to-door collection

The GMC successfully implemented door-to-door collection of garbage across all its 100 wards. “A dumping van visits each locality in the wee hours and plays the Swachh Bharat song exhorting residents to dump segregated waste into it. This played a crucial role in the success of the campaign,” explained Mishra.

Local residents admit that things have changed for the better in the last three years. “The door-to-door collection was an instant hit and GMC introduced it in all its wards,” said Ashish Pandey, a resident of Indirapuram.

Using parks for composting

The GMC dug pits in sections of several parks and handed them over to private entities to convert horticulture waste into compost.

“This way, we did not allow horticulture waste generated in these parks and green areas to be left out in the open. It was used in these parks for making compost,” said Mishra.

No open vats

A significant change was the disappearance of more than 250 permanent waste-dumping sites in the city. “Tonnes of waste would lie in these spots for days together. While some were covered, waste from others was ferried to designated places on a daily basis,” explained Mishra.

Ragpickers in the system

The GMC mobilised ragpickers, who played a crucial role in the segregation of civic waste across the city. The civic body got Aadhaar cards made for 742 of them. “Their services were used in an organised manner. The ragpickers would hop in on our 336 GPS-enabled vehicles and provide a helping hand in waste collection and segregation at our 15 collection centres. Items which were saleable would be given to them through which they earned money with respect and dignity,” added Mishra.

Champa Devi, a ragpicker in the Sanjay Nagar area, said, “Earlier, I used to drag a magnet-attached stick along the road at five in the morning so that iron particles like nails would stick to it. I would then sell them to factory owners for a measly sum.”

In August last year, Devi was introduced to the GMC’s experiment. “It promised to provide me with regular money and dignity which comes with working with GMC,” she said.

Veggie waste to compost

Hundreds of metric tonnes of fruits and vegetable waste found its way into the bylanes of the Navyug mandi, rotting and emanating unbearable stench, with cattle sometimes feeding on it. “We provided land and equipment for developing a waste-to-compost plant and residents were sensitised to collect fruits and vegetable waste and ferry it to the plant,” said Mishra. “We are getting compost which they (the residents) are selling off,” he added, pointing out that this was a “one-of-its-kind” experiment wherein waste was actually providing employment to people.

“Six people from Navyug mandi are earning between Rs 15,000 and Rs 20,000 each per month by selling compost. In return, our bylanes are now free of waste,” said Mishra.

Beautification drive

The GMC also took up the task of beautifying the area, covering up eyesores. “A patch of land at Meerut tri-section was used to dump waste but it was converted into a park, complete with landscaping, and changed the look of the vicinity,” Mishra said.