Source segregation of solid waste is proving to be the Waterloo of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation, in the absence of which all its efforts in solid waste management fall flat.
Except distributing two bins each to 22 lakh households in the city to be used for segregating wet and dry garbage, the civic body could not achieve much on this turf.
Home makers, domestic helps and watchmen are crucial targets in terms of source segregation, but they are proving to be the most difficult to reach out to, claim the officials.
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No headway
Two years ago, ahead of GHMC elections, the government had begun distribution of twin bins to households and subsidising the purchase of ‘Swachh’ auto tippers to replace the tricycles that were in use then.
The auto tippers, 2000 in number, were given to the already existing garbage collectors who held license to drive four wheeler. The vehicles have two separate partitions for receiving wet and dry garbage from the households and apartment complexes.
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Two years on, the auto tippers now have two or more sacks hanging from their sides, where the garbage collectors put plastic covers and bottles found from their rummages through the garbage, which can get them a quick buck. In the two original partitions, it is still a mix of dry and wet garbage.
Dumped together
Second round of segregation takes place at the 22 transfer stations across the city, and finally at the dump yard in Jawaharnagar.
Oblivious to the destination of the garbage once it is sent out, neither the households nor the apartment welfare committees bother much about the purpose of the two bins, nor of the importance of segregation.
“We had been segregating garbage for many years before GHMC had come up with twin-bin idea, just so that we can dispose of the wet garbage before it starts to stink. We have been continuing with it even now, but the garbage is anyway dumped into a single bin by our watchman,” says P. Sujatha Reddy, a resident of Marredpally.
Messages sent
Commissioner B.Janardhan Reddy, even while claiming that the corporation has achieved much in terms of solid waste collection and management, admits that households still remain impregnable citadels.
“We began ‘Swachh Dhooth’ app to reward home makers who post pictures of them segregating waste, recruited community resource persons to educate those living along the nalas towards depositing trash with the garbage collectors, and through a CSR tie-up with ITC, are having students go from home to home, pasting stickers on the importance of segregation. We have also sent 11 lakh awareness messages to home makers,” Mr. Reddy says, explaining the corporation’s initiatives. The caller tune of the GHMC officials has long been changed to a message on the importance of waste segregation.
Hyderabad is still much ahead of other metro cities in the country in terms of waste segregation, Mr. Reddy says. In the race for Swachh Sarvekshan, 2018 rankings, the corporation is mulling over intensifying its efforts by January next year.