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The Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) on Tuesday said that 70% of the waste collected daily across the city is not segregated by residents. Officials said that despite repeated efforts and instructions, the concept remains a challenge for most people as they either do not know about segregation or are unwilling to do so.
Officials said that after a month-long survey by MCG teams, they identified Sector 9A, Sector 11, Sector 5, Sector 14, Sector 10, Saraswati Enclave, 38, Sector 56, 57, 65 and Sector 12 as areas where hardly any There is isolation. being
The civic body compiled data from 267 NGOs and over 100 Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs) and sought their help in educating people about waste segregation.
From November 21, MCG will collect only segregated waste from households across the city The corporation has issued instructions to its sanitation wing and door-to-door waste collection concessionaire Ecogreen to make citizens aware of the changes over the next four days and sensitize them on the need to segregate waste at home.
Segregated waste will be collected from homes in vehicles with separate compartments for three types of waste—wet, dry and medical—and taken to four waste transfer centers for processing.
Since 2018, the MCG has announced more than six times that household waste must be segregated, but compliance remains lax, officials said. This time, however, they have decided to stop the collection of mixed waste from November 21.
MCG Joint Commissioner Naresh Kumar said their goal of 100% waste segregation would not be possible without public participation. “There are many areas where private vendors collect garbage and they have not adapted to the concept of segregation. At least 70% of residents are still giving mixed waste. Many educated people still throw mixed garbage on the roadside or keep it outside their houses at night. Our teams cannot meet the people working in Sector 56, 57 and 65 during the day as they will be working till evening. We have roped in RWAs and NGOs to organize camps in different residential areas to ensure that residents do not mix waste,” he said.
Kumar said there are over 500 private waste collectors employed by residents and the situation will not change unless they start collecting dry and wet waste separately.
MCG officials also said they were facing challenges in dealing with residents during weekends. “Groups that collect waste from door to door are being turned away or threatened to collect mixed waste as residents in many areas say they find the segregation process a waste of time. If parties insist on segregation, they start throwing it on the streets and many are even ready to pay fines but not segregation,” Kumar said.
Officials said that as per the Solid Waste Management Rules 2016, it is the duty of every waste generator to segregate the waste into biodegradable (wet) and non-biodegradable (dry) and household hazardous waste and hand over this segregated waste to the civic body or organization. Organizations employed by them.
Ecogreen Energy’s general manager of Gurugram operations, Shuvendu Samantaray, said their drivers and waste collectors are passing on information to residents about the November 20 source segregation deadline. “Despite our efforts, many areas are reluctant to follow the SWM 2016 guidelines. We are managing this prevention by creating awareness through information, education and communication. We are distributing flyers, and training our drivers and waste collectors. We are monitoring progress by weighing wet and dry waste separately at all our material recovery facilities (MRFs),” he said.
Nilesh Tandon, RWA president of Fresco Apartments in Sector 50, said it took two years to segregate waste in their community. “Many times residents do not separate which is followed by our housekeeping staff. The MCG should allow the RWA to start penalizing residents who do not follow the directions,” he said.
Shuvra Puri, founder of Gurgaon First, a citizens’ initiative to promote sustainability, says, “We all know that 60-70% of residential waste is wet waste. If we separate the waste and compost the wet waste, we will only send 30-40% of the waste to the landfill. It reaches the landfill in Bhandwari and will help reduce the huge amount of compostable mixed waste. It also saves the environment by requiring fewer diesel-powered trucks to transport waste.”
Ruchika Shetty Takkar, founder member of “Why Waste Your Waste”, a civil society movement in Gurgaon advocating for zero waste, says, “Source segregation is the key to scientific waste management. This alone enables waste to be treated as a ‘resource’.” , thereby ensuring its recovery and reusability.”
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