MCC's bid to segregate waste at source gets good response

The Mangaluru City Corporation’s (MCC's) appeal to citizens to segregate waste at source has received a good response. About 50 per cent of wet waste generated is being segregated at source daily before being handed to civic workers during door-to-door waste collection.

Under the Karnataka Municipal Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016, and MCC Solid Waste Management bye-laws, 2018, segregation of waste at source as wet, dry, and sanitary is mandatory.

On Tuesday (June 1), 111.9 tonnes of wet waste, out of 219.59 tonnes of waste collected, was segregated at the source.

On Sunday (May 30), the city had segregated 128.63 tonnes of wet waste out of 270.79 tonnes of waste collected. About 85.26 tonnes of wet waste was segregated out of 161.4 tonnes of waste collected on May 29.

“The waste collected while sweeping the streets as well as from dustbins are in mixed form. We want to ensure that every household segregates the waste at source to ensure that landfill site disasters like the ones which took place in 2019 in Pachchanady do not occur again,” MCC Commissioner Akshy Sridhar told DH.

The waste management unit of the MCC at Pacchanady also receives garbage from Ullal, Kotekar and Someshwara. “We have asked the local bodies to segregate waste before it reaches Pacchanady,” the Commissioner added.

Further, bulk waste generators like hotels, restaurants, marriage halls, catering services, chicken stalls, apartment associations, small industries, hostels, educational institutions among others had promised to set up scientific waste management units on their premises and hand over dry waste to authorised recycling agencies. Owing to lockdown, many sought more time to set up the units. Once normalcy prevails, bulk waste generators will be asked to manage their wet waste, Akshy Sridhar said.

At present, occupancy certificates have been issued for only those high-rise apartments that have set up waste converter plants on their premises, he added.

Awareness will be created at ward level to segregate waste at the source, the Commissioner added.

People should not mix used face masks, hand gloves, and other sanitary and medical wastes in wet waste during present times when the spread of Covid-19 is high, Akshy added.

People should hand over their medical and sanitary waste separately by wrapping it up in a paper or in yellow coloured bio-bags, the Commissioner said.