In a significant development, the Tiruchi Corporation has stopped collecting solid wastes from bulk waste generators such as hotels and restaurants in the city.
Speaking to The Hindu , Corporation Commissioner S. Sivasubramanian said that the hotels and restaurants, which were generating more than 100 kg per day, had been given sufficient time to find their own means to dispose food waste. The Corporation had demonstrated different types of machineries and mechanisms to produce organic manure with food waste. It had also motivated the bulk waste generators to install machines on their premises. But, except a few, most hotels and restaurants had not set up mechanisms to dispose the waste on their own.
Hence, Mr. Sivasubramanian said, the Corporation had stopped collection of garbage from hotels and restaurants. The trucks, which were deployed for collecting food waste at night, would not visit the hotels and restaurants for collecting waste.
“Some hotels and restaurants generate loads of waste daily. They can not simply wash off their responsibility by depositing the waste with our collectors. If it is just few kilos, we can collect waste. Hence, I have issued orders not to collect waste from bulk waste generators,” Mr. Sivasubramanian said.
He said that hotels, restaurants, marriage halls and hospitals accounted for nearly 20% of waste generated in the city daily. Since the introduction of the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016, the civic body had been campaigning for disposing waste at source. Hotels and restaurants had been reminded of the importance of installing solid waste management on their premises. But, only a few restaurants had taken the directive serious and installed machineries to produce organic manure by processing wet waste.
Mr. Sivasubramanian said that there would be no change in the decision of the Corporation. The waste collectors had been given clear instructions not to collect waste from bulk waste generators. Action would be taken against those violating the instruction, he added.
