Now, KMC to collect garbage four times a day

From August 15, Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) will introduce the system of collecting garbage during the evenings too. This will be a major step towards better solid waste management in the city.

With this routine in place, daily garbage collection will increase from three times to four.

KMC will set up three groups of people for each borough, who will keep an eye on garbage accumulation from 12 noon till 9 pm. Each group will have a supervisor. The groups will inform the Solid Waste Management Department of the corporation at which places garbage has accumulated and from where KMC’s vehicles may collect the same from.

Waste amounting to 4,500 metric tonnes is generated per day in Kolkata, which the KMC handles, while the total municipal waste generation in Bengal stands at 14,000 metric tonne per day.

The Bengal Government’s Solid Waste Management Rules 2016 categorises solid waste into six broad categories – industrial hazardous waste, healthcare or biomedical waste, solid waste (waste from houses, schools, offices, etc.), plastic waste, electronic or e-waste and construction or demolition waste. The Government is working upon classifying solid waste under three subcategories – biodegradable waste, recyclable waste and inert waste.

Source: Millennium Post

In 2010 when Trinamool Congress came to power in Kolkata Municipal Corporation, the biggest challenge that the new administration faced was to how to make the city garbage free.

The sight of open vats overflowing with garbage, animal infested garbage dumps and open wagons carrying garbage were common. Under the leadership of Ms Mamata Banerjee, the first task that the corporation undertook was to make Kolkata garbage vat free. Now the city has 49 new state-of-the-art compactor stations. These state-of-the-art compactor stations are being appreciated countrywide and Kolkata is now seen as a pioneer.

Over and above these compactor stations, the city also has 33 new ‘mobile compactors’ which travel from one area to another clearing waste due to which Kolkata is on the path to become garbage vat free.

Prior to 2010, garbage clearance was done only once in the morning. The present Government has deployed over 8000 workers under Swarna Jayanti Shahari Rozgar Yojana to clean the city again in the afternoon. In Kolkata’s industrial hubs the task is once again undertaken in the evening. The city which was once compared to a garbage dump is now one of India’s cleanest cities.

The busiest streets of the city are washed every morning and the street curbs are cleaned with help of mechanical sweepers. The old hand pulled two wheeler carts which were used to carry garbage are now being replaced with eco-friendly, battery operated three wheelers. In the near future this system will cover all of Kolkata.

Covered compactor wagons are being used to transport the garbage to Dhapa. As Dhapa has now been declared as an international wetland, no developmental work or construction will take place in that area. The state government has allotted 20 acres of land to the KMC, to be used as a dumping ground for the city’s garbage. The waste materials will now also be used to generate electricity through ‘Waste Energy Project’, Price Water House Coopers Ltd as its consultants and global tenders have been sought. With the use of modern technology in its various departments, KMC is now doing its work more efficiently and with greater speed.

The forthcoming projects are:

1) A bioremediation project of CBIPM with grants from World Bank

2) In 137 wards, centres to separate the recyclable items like plastic, paper, etc. from biodegradable wastes are being set up. It is already operational in seven wards.

3) Minimisation of the number of open vats and direct collection of waste are being stressed upon

Tag: biodegradable

Now, KMC to collect garbage four times a day

KMC uses modern disposal system to make the city vat free