After it received the most number of notices for its housing societies not segregating waste in the past six months, the H (West) Ward is pulling up its socks.
According to the ward office in Bandra (West), 67% of housing societies are now segregating their wet and dry waste.
Over the past six months, the civic authority sent out more than 23,000 notices to housing societies across wards. However, residents complained of a lack of separate vehicles for dry and wet waste.
To keep up with the amount of dry waste coming from houses, assistant municipal commissioner Sharad Ughade asked for four more small tempos to collect the trash last month. H(West) ward sends about 285 metric tonnes of wet waste to Deonar landfill and the transferring station at Kurla using more than 50 BMC and contractual vehicles.
Another western ward that boasts of a good rate of segregation is K/West. According to assistant municipal commissioner Prashant Gaikwad, nearly 80% of the residential buildings in Andheri (W) is now managing their waste. “Those who fail to follow the rule before the new deadline in October will be prosecuted and fined,” said Gaikwad.
Lauding the ward administration for its efforts inefficient waste management, a member of Perry Road Residents’ Association, Anil Joseph said, “The notices sent by the ward office forced a lot of people to start segregating. Only two of the 44 buildings in my association was fined for not segregating waste.”
According to an official, wet waste from Bandra has decreased in the last three months. “Sometimes, dry-waste collecting vehicle is a day or two late. But, it is understandable. The work is being done.” Joseph, whose building has an attached composting unit.
Secretary of Juhu Citizens’ Welfare Group, ZahidaBanatwala, thinks that penalising is necessary. “15 members of our 21-member group are now segregating waste,” she told HT.
Even after giving out warnings to stopping garbage collection, the civic authority has not acted on its word in housing societies that failed to manage waste. “Not sending the garbage trucks is the last resort,” Ughade.
BMC said the city will soon get 58 more dry-waste vehicles in addition to the operational 46. The corporation, in its drive to reduce the city’s waste going to the landfills, also issued an order on Saturday for citizens to not only start segregating waste but also compost it in their societies. The new deadline given to citizens is October 2.
