New Delhi   

Waste management efforts go waste

Bindu Shajan Perappadan

NEW DELHI: Delhi has the highest per capita expenditure and the largest manpower deployment for solid waste management among 25 major cities in the country. However, it continues to lag behind cities like Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Ludhiana that have indicated the highest solid waste collection efficiency on the basis of waste generation and collection figures provided by their urban local bodies (ULB).

According to a recently released Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry survey on "Scope of Privatisation of Solid Waste Management in India'', despite having money and manpower the solid waste management system of the Capital does not clear all of the 6,500 metric tonnes of garbage that it generates each day.

Put together based on questioner response received from ULBs, the survey attempts to present the current picture of solid waste management scenario in 25 major cities of the country.

In the Capital, where it is common to see stinking piles of waste strewn across roads, a statement from the local department of waste management claimed that it was lack of appropriate treatment technology, funds, technical know-how and community resistance both towards source segregation as well as setting up of centralised treatment and disposal facility in the local localities that were responsible for preventing Delhi from being spick and span.

The FICCI Environment Division research associate Antara Ray said: "Delhi spends Rs. 431per person per year, which is higher per capita expenditure on solid waste management when compared with Mumbai (Rs. 428), Jaipur (Rs. 301), Chennai (Rs. 295) and Ludhiana (Rs. 258). Delhi also has the highest manpower deployment for solid waste management (3.5 per 1,000 population) followed by Mumbai, Madurai, Coimbatore and Nasik. However, Delhi is not the cleanest with even private players not managing to do the trick for the Capital. The city generates 6, 500 metric tonnes of waste each day but is able to clear only 90 per cent of it.''

"Our survey also indicates a clear inclination of ULBs towards privatisation of their solid waste management activities and shows that door-to-door waste collection, street sweeping and transportation of waste are the most common activities that have been privatised and that there is huge potential for private sector participation in treatment and disposal activities,'' she added.

The survey also showed that among the waste treatment options, composting and vermin-composting were the most popular methods used.

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