CHENNAI: The city corporation, in 2019, had released a list of over 18 authorised firms to handle waste from bulk waste generators in order to reduce burden on the civic body and more importantly, the landfills. Three years later, many of the firms have discontinued services in the city and some have gone on to focus on other cities like Bengaluru.
The reason, according to the seven of the 18 firms that TNIE spoke to, was lack of cooperation from apartment complexes and other bulk waste generators in the city, who are unwilling to spend on sustainable waste management.
Apartments were asked to either create composting setups in their premises with the help of these firms or pay to let them handle their waste responsibly. Parisutham Vedamuthu, vice president, Hand in Hand India, one of the authorised firms, told TNIE, “When the corporation announced this initiative in 2009, we were given a micro composting centre.
However, within 10 months of operation, we were unable to meet operation costs because only one apartment was working with us.” “We approached several apartments but they were unwilling or said they did not have the space. Lack of space is not a constraint but they must have the will,” he added.
The firm, which operated in Sholinganallur, home to several new apartments, has since discontinued services in the city for now. Sarika (name changed) of Nammaboomi , another authorised firm said, “When the initiative was announced, I got several calls from apartments. After I went to their premises and explained options and costs, I would not hear back. So much of my time was wasted in this so now, I only do home composting (for individual homes).”
According to the solid waste management bye-laws, bulk waste generators are those that generate over 100 kg of waste in a day or have more than 5,000 sqm of area. Setting up a basic composting facility for themselves would cost around Rs 2-3 lakh, according to the firms.
“As an alternate to having these composting facilities in their own premises, they can give waste to us at a nominal price and we will process them. Many bulk waste generators, apart from not segregating waste, are also not willing to pay Rs 150 per house (monthly charges for an apartment) to have us process their waste,” said an official from Srinivasa Waste Management Solutions, an authorised service provider. He added that some restaurants prefer to sell off their waste to pigsties so that they can get rid of their waste at around Rs 30,000 a month instead of the Rs 60,000-70,000 a month they might have to shell out if they engage the waste management services.
“When waste is sold off to pigsties, they will take what is useful to them and the rest is dumped on roadsides,” he added. A resident of an apartment complex in Adyar zone, on the condition of anonymity told TNIE, “What the apartment representatives do now is pay the local conservancy inspector Rs 5,000 a month and have them clear the waste.” With this, there is no way to track if the waste is being handled responsibly or being dumped in landfills.
However, corporation officials told TNIE that apartment complexes and other bulk waste generators are to have their own on-site composting services. “They can have on-site composting facilities or they should contact the vendors on the empanelled list. They should not have anything other than non-recyclable waste coming out of their premises,”said a senior corporation official.