Govt to set up 45 manned waste stations to nix littering

Panaji: The state government has decided to set up 45 manned waste transfer stations at strategic locations across the state to stop littering in public spaces. Each such station will have one person deployed to sort out the waste collected before it’s sent for treatment.
Speaking to TOI, Goa Waste Management Cor-poration (GWMC) managing director Levinson Martins said that people usually can be seen throwing garbage wherever they find open space, but with this concept they can hand over garbage to transfer stations, where it will be sorted.
“Initially, we have sought central assistance to set up the manned transfer stations at 45 locations,” he said.
The GWMC proposal was approved on Monday at the 14th board of directors meeting, under the chairmanship of chief minister Pramod Sawant.
The corporation said that a 100 tonne per day solid waste management facility at Cacora isn’t working effectively as local bodies in Canacona, Sanguem, Quepem, and Dharbandora aren’t collecting wet waste. The Cacora plant is complete and on a trial run.
The board also reviewed major plants being set up by the GWMC such as the Saligao SWMF, Cacora SWMF, biomedical waste facility, hazardous waste facility, e-waste facility and construction and debris waste facility, and decided to inaugurate the SWMF facility at Cacora.
The board also reviewed the remediation activity of legacy waste carried out by GWMC and congratulated its team on successfully completing the Sonsoddo remediation, where only RDF remains to be disposed of.
The board resolved to carry out extensive waste management awareness workshops in Goa.
Even as the board appreciated the efforts of the GWMC in completing the Cacora SWMF, it was noticed that most local bodies do not collect wet waste, and for the efficient running of the plant, waste is required to be collected by local bodies from Canancona, Sanguem, Quepem, and Dharbandora talukas.
It was also decided that all domestic hazardous waste comprising sanitary pads and diapers, as required by law, needs to be collected separately by local bodies and the same sent to the common biomedical waste facility at Kundaim.
The new GWMC initiative to collect dry used clothes wherein the deposition of such clothes will entitle the depositor to cloth bags under the ‘POTI’ scheme, will be inaugurated shortly.