Mumbai civic body to set up debris processing unit on private land

Now, the Mumbai civic body is looking for private land in space starved Mumbai where owners of the land are willing to set up and operate construction and demolition waste processing units for the civic body’s ‘Debris on Call’ service.

The units will attend to the calls for lifting construction debris, collect, transport, crush and process them into useful products to sell in the market.

This comes after Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMM) failed over seven times to find contractors for the job. As part of it’s latest tender document, BMC has added a clause that can allow any Mumbaiite to set-up a plant if he has a large open space. This will require taking permissions such as environment clearances, clearance from Maharashtra Pollution Control Board, and a no objection certificate from the traffic police.

A senior civic officer from the solid waste management (SWM) department said, “Industries or establishments that already have construction debris processing units can assist in the process. It will also benefit establishments that have large open spaces, such as commercial workshops and vacant plots.”

Mumbai city generates 7,200 tonnes of waste per day, of which 1,200 tonnes is construction debris.

To deal with the problem, BMC set up two debris processing and recycling plants for 600 tonnes of debris each, at a 2.7 hectare plot in Mulund. Ashok Khaire, deputy municipal commissioner and incharge of SWM said, “We expected the contractor associated with the Mulund plant to ensure that debris brought to the plant is processed. However, seeing the poor execution of the job, we want private owners to take it forward.”

The civic body plans to set up a 24*7 helpline and an online system to receive calls for lifting debris, assigning drop off and collection points in each ward for the debris, arranging their transportation to the plant, processing, recycling and reusing the debris.

BMC will also buy back 20 per cent of this processed construction waste.

First Published: Aug 08, 2019 18:43 IST