HYDERABAD: Solid waste management is poor in Telangana, indicates a report by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). The reports points out that while the State generates 685 MT of plastic waste every day, only two per cent of it gets recycled.
Another reason cited is the lack of solid waste processing facilities in the urban local bodies (ULB) in Telangana. According to the CPCB report, the State government has prepared a detailed project report (DPR) for setting up solid waste management facilities in only 72 of the 142 ULBs in Telangana. Of this, the DPRs of only 31 ULBs have been approved till now by the high power committee of the government. This is despite the fact that the State generates 8,497 MT of solid waste every day.
It also mentions that 12 ULBs do not even have land allotted for dump sites and 35 per cent of the ULBs do not have land for setting up waste management facilities.The report by the CPCB is a gap analysis prepared for all states based on the data submitted by respective State governments on their compliance with various waste management rules and environmental norms, in accordance with the directions issued by the National Green Tribunal.
The report gives out point-wise details of various regulations under the waste management rules and the degree of compliance with regard to each of these regulations by the States and UTs.When it comes to Telangana, there are various regulations that the State has neither submitted information on — whether it is compliance or partial compliance of the norms. For example, the government has not submitted information on whether it has prepared action plans to manage 100 per cent of the municipal solid waste generated in the State, setting up common or regional sanitary landfills, bioremediation or capping of dump sites. It has also not specified whether it has ensured that the storm water drains are closed so that no plastic or other waste entered them.
Similarly, the State has also not submitted information on whether it has established plastic waste management system as per the Plastic Waste Management rules.