VIJAYAWADA: With the target of transforming the city as ‘garbage-free’ by June 30, public health department officials of the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) have decided to tighten the noose against bulk waste generators (generating 50-100 kg waste every day) who have failed to establish on-site composting units on their premises. Bulk waste generators contribute around 30-40 per cent of the total waste generated by the city every day, according to officials sources.
Implementing the Solid Waste Management (SWM) rules-2016, which mandates bulk waste generators to compost their waste, the civic body had in October 2018 directed all the bulk waste generators in the city, mostly hotels, hostels, educational institutions, gated communities and wedding halls to set up composting units on their premises instead of handing over the wastes to the sanitation staff. As per official estimates, there are around 100 small, medium and big hotels and restaurants and 60 marriage halls, including those maintained by the VMC, in the city.
On an average, 550 metric tonnes of garbage is generated every day from the 59 divisions of the city. While the corporation is able to compost around 400 MT garbage, remaining 150 MT remains untreated causing inconvenience to the public residing near the dumping yards at Ajith Singh Nagar and Pathapadu.
Till date, only around 20 bulk waste generating establishments have established their own composting units while most are yet to implement the SWM rules-2016. Taking serious note of the issue, municipal commissioner M Rama Rao has directed the public health department officials to serve notices on the bulk waste generators and impose hefty fines if they fail to follow the norms.
“A few months ago, VMC officials had asked us to install on-site composting units on our premises to generate organic fertilisers. Only those hoteliers who can afford the machinery worth ranging between Rs 40,000 and Rs 4 lakh have followed the rule. Others, who can’t afford continue handing over the wastes to sanitation staff,” a hotelier said on condition of anonymity. The hotelier added that those who can’t afford to bear the costs of the composting units will approach the government to find a permanent solution for the problem.
Speaking to TNIE, VMC chief medical officer for health K Arjuna Rao said that it has become a herculean task for the sanitation staff to collect and treat the wastes generated from the households and commercial establishments.
“If the identified bulk waste generators start processing their degradable wastes independently every day, it will save a lot of manpower and reduce corresponding man hours for door-to-door waste segregation. A meeting will be convened again with all the bulk waste generators and their support will be sought for transforming the city as garbage-free,” he said.
Waste in the city