Set up own wet waste mgmt system, TMC tells big socs & commercial units

13th Dec, 2017

THANE: The Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) has instructed housing societies with 5,000 square metre area and commercial units generating over 100kg of waste daily to set up their own wet waste management systems before January 1, 2018.

The TMC is in the process of dispatching notices to these societies and units citing a 2016 order on solid waste management by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, which mandates residents to set up their own wet waste management systems in their complexes.

Thane city generates around 750 metric tonne garbage daily and it is learnt that the civic body spends a considerable volume of manpower and resources to dispose it. A conservative estimate by officials revealed that there are nearly 450 such units in the city and implementation of the rule will mean reduction of nearly 30 per cent waste daily.

The civic body had also decided to make waste segregation mandatory for housing societies following the footsteps of the Brihamumbai Mumbai Corporation (BMC) and has instead gone a step ahead by advising complexes to start their own processing plants. Officials said that while they have already mandated wet and dry waste segregation, they are now asking these complexes to set up their own wet waste management systems.

"We have started issuing notices to societies and commercial units alerting them that we will not lift garbage from their units if it is not segregated, as per directions issued by the Ministry of Environment and Forests last year. We are sending notices to complexes and commercial units asking them to ensure disposal of their own waste from January 1. The civic body has given adequate notice period for these complexes to devise ways to set up their management systems, said a senior official from the civic solid waste management department.

Meanwhile, activists and residents have lashed out at TMC questioning the rationale behind introducing such a rule at the last minute. Some have also questioned if the TMC will reduce the taxes considering it was offloading one of its core responsibilities.

How can the civic body enforce such a rule at the last minute, specially when there is already space crunch in housing societies. How are we supposed to set up such units on our own as it will add to our maintenance costs? Further, the facility may require huge area which is not feasible as it may also lead to health hazards during water-logging in the rains. We will oppose this sudden enforcement, said activist Milind Gaikwad, whose residential unit in Thane also received a notice.

It may be noted that the TMC had run into rough weather early this year after it had decided to stop garbage collection from traders.

 

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com