Once recognised for its cleanliness, Coimbatore has dropped from the 42nd position in 2022 to the 182nd spot in the recent Clean Cities Survey 2023 Awards conferred by the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.
The ranking based on the survey, covering 446 cities, has raised concerns about Coimbatore’s decline by over 100 spots in the past year, prompting enquiries into the factors behind this drastic shift.
Unregulated dumping by BWGs
Notably, the unregulated dumping practices of Bulk Waste Generators (BWGs) in the city have become a focal point of scrutiny, with activists questioning the absence of proper monitoring.
According to the 2016 Solid Waste Management Rules, BWGs encompass “local bodies, public or private companies, hospitals, educational institutions, apartments, hotels, commercial establishments, markets, etc., that generate waste exceeding 100 kg per day”.
Additionally, BWGs are required to establish on-site wet waste processing units and only dry waste is permitted for disposal. However, the Coimbatore City Municipal Corporation’s (CCMC) failure to form a comprehensive BWG monitoring cell has resulted in unauthorised dumping of waste.
In several places, such as Singanallur and Ondipudur, waste is dumped and burnt overnight by BWGs that do not process waste in-house. The civic body, however, has no recent data on BWGs that process waste. “We will carry out a survey over the coming months to take action,” a CCMC official said.
Non-functioning waste processing units
Activists have also pointed fingers at the poor maintenance of the 34 micro composting centres in the city, of which around 14 were dysfunctional till mid-2023. “We are looking to renovate all MMCs and set up bio-gas plants which will ease the waste management issue in the city,” Corporation Commissioner M. Sivaguru Prabhakaran said.
While establishing new facilities addresses part of the issue, experts emphasise the need to target the root cause. Coimbatore-based RTI activist L. Karthick proposes a solution : “Local bodies should empower residents to form monitoring committees, enabling scrutiny of sites in their vicinity and holding BWGs and others accountable.”
