Mumbai may not have dump yards, community dustbins in future

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation recently proposed to emulate the Ambikapur (Chhattisgarh) model for solid-liquid resource management (SLRM) in Greater Mumbai.

Under the Ambikapur model, there are no dumping yards or community dustbins in the city. Garbage segregation begins at home; separate bins are provided to each household for the purpose. Inorganic waste like plastic, electric wires, etc goes into the red bin, while organic waste such as leaves, food, etc goes into the green one. The dumping yard has been converted into a sanitation park.

The BMC and the State Urban Development Department in its recent submission to the Parliamentary Standing Committee said the Ambikapur model will be replicated in Greater Mumbai.

''BMC's daily garbage collection at dumping grounds has reduced from 7,800 tonnes to 7,200 tonnes. The civic body intends to reduce it further to 6,000 tonnes. Besides, the BMC has taken a policy decision to not use landfills or unscientific methods of waste disposal,'' said a BMC official. He said that the BMC will study how Chhattisgarh achieved 100 per cent door-to-door collection and processing in waste generation.

BMC commissioner Ajoy Mehta recently told DNA that the civic body will close down the Mulund dumping ground while it has already started using bio-reactors in the Kanjumarg dump yard. The waste to energy project at the Deonar dump yard will start soon.

According to BMC officials, at present, 38 dry waste centres are being run by NGOs under their own model of decentralised waste segregation and processing. In slums, the civic body provides separate collection bins of 10 litre capacity each for dry and wet waste.

''We will try to replicate the Ambikarpur model wherein the waste collected is taken to the 17 SLRM centres and one tertiary segregation unit. Organic waste is further segregated into 17 categories and inorganic waste into 20 categories. The organic waste is used to make compost while the inorganic waste is further segregated into 156 categories after cleaning it at the tertiary segregation centre,'' the official said.

Waste Disposal

• BMC’s daily garbage collection at dumping grounds has reduced from 7,800 tonnes to 7,200 tonnes. The civic body intends to reduce it further to 6,000 tonnes. 
• The BMC has taken a policy decision to not use landfills or unscientific methods of waste disposal.