Mulund cleanest, Kurla worst

Have you ever thought how much waste is generated after such festivities? A look into the post-Diwali festivities has brought to the fore interesting facts

You have seen a million crackers going up in smoke during Diwali days. But what next? Have you ever thought how much waste is generated after such festivities? A look into the post-Diwali festivities has brought interesting facts. Mulund has emerged as the cleanest residential area generating only three metric tonnes (MT) of waste compared to Kurla which generated a mammoth 230 MT.

On the day of  Id, Mulund one again generated a measly one MT garbage while Kurla generated 250 MT of waste. Perplexed by the disparity across the 24 wards in the city, the officials of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) now plan to do a comparative study of the waste generated during the festive season. According to BMC figures, on October 21, the Diwali night, the city generated 929 MT of additional waste. On October 24 and 25, during the Id festivals, a total of 2182 MT of waste was generated.

On normal days, the per capita generation of wastes in Mumbai is about 450g per person a day. The waste include garbage, debris, silt removed from drains, nullahs and cow dung.

The approximate quantity of solid waste generated within Mumbai is 6,000 tonnes a day consisting of 4,000 tonnes of garbage and 2,000 tonnes of debris, silt and cow dung. But during festivities, the situation gets worse. Each individual generates, sources say, nearly 90g of additional waste a day.

“Each person generated nearly 80-90 g of additional waste on Diwali. We need to do a comparative study of the waste generated on the Diwali night in the last few years,” said additional municipal commissioner (city) RA Rajeev.