The waste management system in apartments under the jurisdiction of the Kochi Corporation will come under the scanner of the State Pollution Control Board.
A random assessment of waste collection, storage, and disposal at the apartment complexes will be done in the next two weeks. The initiative forms part of the review of waste management measures taken by the Kochi Corporation on the directive of the State Level Monitoring Committee (SLMC) on Solid Waste Management appointed by the National Green Tribunal (NGT), according to official sources.
The civic body had informed the committee that waste management undertaken as part of the Clean City Movement of Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Association of India (CREDAI) was satisfactory. Waste management solutions, including the setting up of biobins and biogas plants to treat biodegradable waste to turn it into manure and biogas respectively and recycling of non-biodegradable waste such as plastic, are available in the apartment complexes.
The board will also verify the corporation’s claims that it had been able to scale up the process of doorstep collection of waste in various wards. The SLMC had earlier asked the corporation to ensure 100% doorstep collection of waste generated in households and commercial buildings in all the 74 wards under it by August 31.
The report to be prepared by the board will include details like frequency of collection of biodegradable and non-biodegradable waste and the number of workers and vehicles engaged for the purpose.
Panel directive
The committee had asked the corporation to come up with an action plan for developing a revenue model for effective treatment of waste. The recommendation was made in view of the burgeoning waste management issues in the city and its outskirts.
The NGT had observed in one of its earlier orders that only 50% to 75% of waste generated should be managed by waste-to-energy plants or waste-to-compost plants or through integrated waste management plans. The remaining 25% to 50% of waste will continue to be dumped in the existing dumping grounds or new dumping sites.
Most States have not taken into account the possible incremental growth of waste in the future in growing cities, it had observed.
