Waste Management

Waste management had long been a puzzle that Chennai failed to crack as the city grew over the past few decades. As the city made strides toward decentralised waste management, there was hope that this might prove to be the step that improves the situation. However, over a year after the new system was put in place, there are questions about the efficacy of its working. One of the two key components of decentralistion is wet waste composting which takes place through dedicated micro composting centres (MCCs). Citizen Matters zoomed in on how wet waste is treated in the city…

“Oho! Namma Ooru! Semma Joru!” Kamala Vanchinathan, a resident of Ramapuram, takes this tune as cue to carry two bins filled with garbage to hand over to the conservancy worker. "Vandi kulla kuppaya pirichi podanum," blares the song as she hands over the wet and dry waste to the battery-operated garbage collection vehicle. She is quite proud of her efforts to segregate the waste generated in her house at source and encourages others to embrace the practice. But the responsibility of solid waste management does not end with those such as Kamala who segregate waste at source. Although they are…

Bengaluru generates 6000 tons of garbage per day from various entities. BBMP as the local government and the nodal agency in charge of solid waste management, has categorised waste generators into bulk and non-bulk categories. According to estimates, over 1500 tons of waste is generated by Bulk Generators (BGs). Classification of Bulk Generators Bulk Generators have been classified into three categories, as per BBMP’s circular JC(SWM)/PRF/e-17410/2021-22 dated 30th Mar 2022: ResidentialInstitutionalCommercialApartments, Multi dwelling units, gated communities housing greater than 100 Units.Academic institutions, government departments and undertakings, religious institutions, hospitals, hospitality industry, Corporates, etc.All commercial entities which generate on an average…

Being an urban citizen today involves an informed understanding of the climate crisis and its impact on our livelihoods. But beyond just the knowledge of issues plaguing the world, there are individual measures we can and must take to reduce the local impact of climate change. This is especially true since citizens, and not just corporations and governments, are also responsible for urban warming.  Segregating waste generated in our homes and residential communities could be one of the first steps we take as responsible citizens. The majority of our waste generated goes to landfills. 70% of our garbage is wet waste,…

Mayor R Priya presented the annual  budget  2022-23 for the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) on April 9th 2022. The budgetary allocations for solid waste management are based on the premise of effective segregation on the ground, but what are the present realities?  “Waste Management in Chennai city is much the same as before, in some places people segregate waste and in some gated communities people manage their wet waste using in situ composting. Colour coded bins are the new addition and uniforms have changed. GCC has not been able to enforce the Solid Waste Management Rules 2016”, says P. Natarajan,…

Karnataka presently generates around 500 tonnes of biomedical waste per month. Over 70% of this ends up in landfills, contaminating soil, water and air. Part of this includes medicines, which has only increased with the COVID-19 pandemic. While hospitals and clinics account for the bulk generation of the waste, they are governed by the Hazardous and Biomedical Waste Management Rules 2016, set out for them. This ensures that many of them follow some basic guidelines on responsible disposal of bio-medical waste.However, at the household level, there appear to be glaring gaps in the manner in which medical waste generated is…

Legacy waste in Chennai’s dumpyards has become a ticking time-bomb making headlines over the years. The latest in a long line of incidents at Chennai’s dumpyards was a fire that broke out in Perungudi in the last week of April. The blaze spread across 15 acres and took four days for the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC), Fire and Rescue Services and the Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (CMWSSB) to put out.  While much is talked about waste management and the source segregation of household waste, such incidents bring into sharp focus the scale of legacy waste at the…

Even as we write this, the blaze at Delhi's Bhalswa waste dump — a colossal mountain of unsorted and unsegregated waste in the national capital — continues to thwart the efforts of the Delhi Fire Services personnel as they fight the flames raging since April 26th. Of course, such fires at waste dump sites are not uncommon; this is already the third such incident this summer after earlier outbreaks at the Ghazipur landfill site. Methane gas emissions during decomposition of the dumped waste in unaerobic conditions, combined with high air temperatures, make these sites veritable tinderboxes. Sometimes, reckless or deliberate…

Translated by Sandhya Raju கடந்த பத்து ஆண்டுகளாக சென்னை மாநகராட்சியின் மண்டலம் 9-ல் குமரன் எஸ் கழிவுகளை சேகரிக்கும் பணியில் ஈடுபட்டுள்ளார். ஆனால், மாநகராட்சியின் சுகாதார பணியாளர்கள் அல்லது தனியார் நிறுவனமான அர்பேசர் சமித் தற்போது இந்த வேலையை மேற்கொள்வதால், குமரன் போன்ற கழிவுகள் சேகரிப்பாளர்களின் வருமானம் வெகுவாக குறைந்துள்ளது. "பத்து ஆண்டுகளாக இந்த வேலை பார்க்கிறேன். இது போன்ற ஒரு நிலையை இது வரை சந்தித்ததில்லை. பெருந்தொற்று காலத்தில், நல்ல மனம் படைத்த சிலரின் உதவியால் சமாளிக்க முடிந்தது. இப்போது வேலைக்கு திரும்பினாலும், முன்பை விட கால் பங்கு தான் சம்பாதிக்க முடிகிறது", என்கிறார் குமரன். சராசரியாக ஒரு நாளுக்கு ₹600 முன்னர் ஈட்டிய நிலையில், இன்று வெறும் ₹150-200 மட்டுமே கிடைக்கிறது. "முக்கால்வாசி கழிவுகள் மாநகராட்சி பணியாளர்களால் எடுத்துச் செல்லப்பட்டு விற்கப்படுவதால், எங்களுக்கு ஒன்றுமே கிடைப்பதில்லை" என்கிறார். கழிவு சேகரிப்பில், அதிலும் ஈரமற்ற கழிவுகளை சேகரிப்பதில், மாநகராட்சி…

A lone tempo with jumbo bags hanging from the edges and plastic bags  of mixed waste piled high in the van are a familiar sight  in Bengaluru. Despite the fact that in the last few years, wards that started to use separate vehicles to collect different streams of waste saw much better quality of waste collection. It ensured waste that was easy to recycle did not get sent to landfills or burnt on the wayside. Recently, BBMP said they plan to discontinue sending separate vehicles to collect dry waste and will look at a single vehicle having compartmentalised spaces collecting…