After green & blue waste bins, now black and red in Chandigarh

Sandeep Rana

Chandigarh, February 24

After green and blue bins for wet and dry waste, respectively, the local Municipal Corporation has now introduced a black box for hazardous waste and a red box for sanitary pads.

A box with two partitions — one black and the other red — is being attached with each existing two-bin vehicle which collects door-to-door garbage. The MC is encouraging residents to segregate four types of waste.

The residents are supposed to dump waste electric bulbs, lights, dead batteries and broken glass in the black bin, while the red box portion is for sanitary pads.

The hazardous waste will be collected and sent to a Dera Bassi-based unit for processing for which an MoU between the corporation and the agency has been signed, while sanitary pads will go to the three waste recovery centres of the MC.

“Segregating these two types of waste is part of the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016. It will help in efficient management of the city waste and will also be better since the collectors will not have to pick and segregate sanitary pads themselves,” MC Commissioner Anindita Mitra told Chandigarh Tribune.

She said, “We are giving stickers to the collectors to be given to households to paste these in kitchens to get an idea about what all waste has to go in which bin.”

However, it has been seen that the newly added box gets hidden with garbage sacks hung on the two-bin vehicles.

“This box is missing in most of the vehicles. The boxes have been covered with big bags meant for saleable garbage. This should be checked by the MC,” said RK Garg, a resident of Sector 27.

The MC chief said, “A month ago, the MC started the exercise; now we have attached the new boxes in almost all two-bin waste vehicles. Even if the boxes are not visible due to garbage bags, which are used in case of more waste, residents should give segregated hazardous waste.”

In most areas, residents do not segregate dry and wet waste, collectors do it themselves.

Being attached with each two-bin vehicle

• A box with two partitions — one black and the other red — is being attached with each existing two-bin vehicle which collects door-to-door garbage. The MC is encouraging residents to segregate four types of waste.
• The residents are supposed to dump waste electric bulbs, lights, dead batteries and broken glass in the black bin, while the red box portion is for sanitary pads.