Bulk waste challenge for Noida’s Swachh show

NOIDA: There are gaps in Noida’s waste segregation and management programme that are reducing its effectiveness, residents’ groups and industry representatives have pointed out.
The city didn’t do very well in the last Swachh Bharat rankings, ranking an ordinary 150; neighbour Ghaziabad was, by comparison, at a much-improved 13th.
Noida has since taken the significant step of rolling out the segregation-at-source programme, the first city in NCR to do so in an institutional manner. But while compliance is the main concern at the household level, bulk generators like industries and commercial establishments, which produce more than 100kg waste per day, are yet to come up with a clear roadmap.
At a workshop for bulk waste generators organised by the Noida Authority on Thursday, Vipin Malhan, president of Noida Entrepreneurs Association (NEA), said there are over 8,000 industries in Noida, and the larger ones (on more than 5000sqm) are bound to manage waste on their own. “We will convey the message to all industrial holdings and have another meeting with Noida Authority soon to seek further clarity on how to go about it. Maybe, we can have a cluster of few bulk waste generating industries that are in the vicinity of each other for one compost machine,” said Malhan.
S P Sharma, national secretary of the India Industries Association (IIA), told TOI though waste disposal has become a critical problem, industries have never been given any clear direction on management of refuse. “The government just develops industrial areas by providing land but there are no clear direction on such issues. We are heavily penalised if we flout any environment norms. But the government also needs to facilitate industry. If we are provided uninterrupted power, generator sets can be avoided, similarly subsidised PNG can (help) do away with blast furnaces, etc,” said Sharma.
Voicing concerns of RWAs, P S Jain, president of the Confederation of NCR Residents Welfare Association (CONRWA), said, “Noida Authority’s efforts are good but if it expects the support of RWAs, then RWAs should be empowered to ensure compliance. Besides, the number of garbage collectors should be increased. Open garbage collection points should be removed and public toilets must be constructed in usable places. Cleaning drives should be a must with health supervisors being held accountable.”
Noida CEO Ritu Maheshwari was present at the workshop along with other senior officials. “The Authority is making all efforts to improve Noida’s ratings in the all-India Swachh Bharat ranking. We request all RWAs and stakeholders to support the clean Noida drive,” she said.