Who will clean Amritsar? Waste segregation at source hinders proper management

Waste management efforts continue to falter in the city as segregation, essential to compartmentalise garbage, has not been possible despite clear directives under the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016 and Municipal Solid Wastes (Management and Handling) Rules, 2000. The orders of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) to collect only segregated waste, therefore, also remain unimplemented.

Wet waste, comprising food leftovers, fruit and vegetable peels, and kitchen waste, decomposes quickly. Dry waste, including plastic, paper and glass, does not decompose. The idea behind segregation is to make waste processing easy, convenient and economical.

As per rules, every household should ideally have two dustbins to segregate the waste. Once handed to the waste collection firm, it is required to handle them separately. In most households, the residents are yet to follow the procedure to help in better waste management.

However, there are many households that do follow the procedure of keeping two separate dustbins for wet and dry waste but their efforts to segregate waste are undermined by waste collection employees, who mix both types of waste in the same container. Uncovered trolleys on city roads further highlight the lack of proper segregation.

Uncovered and open trolleys, frequently witnessed, establish that waste segregation is not being followed properly. In these trolleys, one can see that food waste, plastic waste and branches of trees pruned by the gardeners in various localities are kept together.

Further, two separate dustbins are also required at market places where shopkeepers, restaurants and eateries dump their waste. However, in the absence of any such mechanism, the waste generated by eateries gets mixed with plastic thrown by other shopkeepers. Here, the waste collection teams too are helpless.

Initially, the private firm collecting waste from households had partition in the containers installed on their vehicles where dry and wet waste was collected separately. After these vehicles reached the sites where compactor machines were installed, dry waste was removed and compacted while wet waste was transported to the compost pad at Bhagatanwala dump.

However, the number of vehicles with partition in their containers is few and waste collection teams do not have any option but to put the waste in the same container. Municipal Corporation officials stated that they have taken up the issue with the private firm entrusted with the task of collecting waste. MC Health Officer Dr Kiran Kumar said, “The issue of segregation of waste is central to its management.” He said that the private company has assured to increase the number of waste collection vehicles and create partitions in the containers. He added that the company has also assured to ensure proper segregation by December 31 this year. MLA Kunwar Vijay Partap Singh said that reports of irregularities in waste collection have been received frequently from the residents. He said that the MC officials are regularly made aware of such problems and added that there is a need to streamline the waste collection system and make it more efficient.

Waste segregation not being followed

• Uncovered and open trolleys, frequently witnessed, establish that waste segregation is not being followed properly. In these trolleys, one can see that food waste, plastic waste and branches of trees pruned by the gardeners in various localities are kept together
• The number of vehicles with partition in their containers is few and waste collection teams do not have any option but to put the waste in the same container. Municipal Corporation officials stated that they have taken up the issue with the private firm entrusted with the task of collecting waste. MC Health Officer Dr Kiran Kumar said the issue of segregation of waste is central to its management.