300 days on, NMC waste segregation & composting machines out of order

Nagpur: Although the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) professes to be taking various measures to reduce solid waste, two of its machines used for waste separation and composting have been out of order for 300 days. This has resulted in increase in legacy waste in the Bhandewadi dumping yard.
In a startling revelation, the NMC’s public health engineering department replied toan RTI query that over 3.81 lakh metric tonnes waste has been dumped in Bhandewadi in the last 10 months since the machines are lying idle.
The RTI query was filed by activist Abhay Kolarkar.
In its reply, the solid waste management department said it is paying Rs1,800 per metric tonne to garbage collection operator BVG, while Rs1,950 per MT to AG Enviro for door-to-door segregated waste collection.
In the last 39 months, the NMC has paid Rs113.61 crore to BVG, Rs116.83 crore to AG Enviro, while it imposed fine of Rs1.51 crore on BVG and Rs1.69 crore on AG Enviro since November 2019 when the agencies were appointed for garbage collection.
The city has expanded in all directions in the last few years. Due to this, the amount of waste generated daily has also increased from 1,000 MT to 1,300 MT.
Garbage is being lifted by the two companies appointed for door-to-door waste collection and taking it to Bhandewadi dumping yard.
However, dry waste recovery centre for disposal and sorting of accumulated garbage has been closed since May 2022. The project that produces fertilizer from waste has also been closed since April last year. This has led to piling up of more waste in Bhandewadi.
Green activist and founder of Green Vigil Foundation Kaustav Chatterjee said the RTI information shows only scientific landfill is being implemented, as segregation and also compost-making machines are out of order. “It’s surprising, how such costly machines can remain nonoperational for 300 days. It is high time we realize the potential of solid waste and start generating biogas or electricity from it,” he said.
The NMC need to think beyond scientific landfilling and composting. Though calorific value of solid waste is a challenge, but there are ways to overcome it, said Chatterjee. Not treating solid waste is also adversely affecting our ranking in Swachh Survekshan as around 40% of the points are directly or indirectly linked to solid waste treatment. “If we don’t treat our legacy waste as well as municipal solid waste on a daily basis, Nagpur can never be in the first 5 cities under the Swachh ranking,” he said.
Recently, municipal commissioner Radhakrishnan B claimed that processing 10 lakh metric tonne waste helped in clearing 55 acres land. Already, the garbage accumulated in Bhandewadi is a headache for half of the residential areas in East Nagpur as it is impacting health and causing other environmental issues like air pollution.
Though crores of rupees are being spent by the municipal corporation on waste collection companies in the city, the ground reality indicates neglect towards disposal. Beside, many citizens complain of irregular garbage collection in their areas.