The millennium city generates about 600 tonnes of municipal solid waste every day, which is handled in the most conventional manner. The problem is compounded with no single authority responsible for waste management of the city’s urban area.
No integrated solid waste management plan is in place and the burning down of the only waste treatment plant in November 2013 has led to mountains of waste piling up.
Citizens’ groups had been advocating that in the impending crisis lay an opportunity to decentralise waste management at housing/ward level. And the Municipal Corporation of Gurgaon (MCG) under its new Commissioner Vikas Gupta has finally decided to implement a decentralised MSW pilot project at two locations.
The housing colonies shortlisted for the pilot project are HUDA Sector 31, housing 3,000 families, and MCG ward Ashok Vihar Phase-II with 1,500 households. Mr. Gupta told The Hindu that the projects would be launched in another one month. “We need to procure waste processing plant for this. The compost made from organic waste would be used in parks and green areas. If the pilot projects are successful, waste segregation at source would be extended to other areas as well,” said Mr. Gupta.
A few weeks back, a delegation of RWA members of HUDA Sector 31, RWA president Colonel (retd.) Man Singh and Deputy Mayor Parminder Kataria, and civil society members represented by Ruchika Sethi of Why Waste Your Waste had met the MCG Commissioner and presented local solutions for decentralising waste management.
Enthusiastic about the pilot projects, Ms. Sethi said: “The purpose of the projects is waste reduction, waste diversion (from landfill) and organic waste processing at source. It would demonstrate that only non-recyclables and sanitary waste should be disposed of at the landfill.”
Pilot projects to begin at HUDA Sector 31 and MCG ward Ashok Vihar Phase-II
