What a waste, civic body style

Sandeep Rana

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 11

After spending a whopping Rs 2.20 crore on small-sized coloured bins for waste segregation, the local Municipal Corporation now says these were only “ceremonial” and people may buy new ones to start segregation.

With the waste segregation project failing to take off, the MC conducted a survey on January 5, 6 and 7 to take a feedback from the public to know the reason.

MC Commissioner Jitender Yadav said the public felt the bins were too small and even if they gave segregated waste to the collectors, they mixed it up. “On the small size, we told them the distribution of bins was only ceremonial. People may buy new ones for segregation,” said Yadav.

Besides, the logic of starting waste segregation is being questioned in the light of the fact that the garbage processing plant is not working properly. Even the compost plant is not completely ready.

The bins were bought during the tenure of the then MC Commissioner, B Purushartha, in June last year, but till date, the project has failed to take off properly despite several awareness programmes.

Yadav said some people had started segregating waste and they were also encouraging the collectors to follow suit. 

VP Singh Badnore, Punjab Governor and UT Administrator, had launched the project in June last year. Thereafter, a set of two bins (around 2.50 lakh bins in all) was provided to each household, but the project did not work.

People have now started using the bins for other household purposes such as cleaning the floor, washing clothes and planting saplings. “They are small in size and have no covers, so we are using them for cleaning the floor. We have bought separate bigger bins for waste with covers, but the collectors do not take the segregated waste,” said a Sector 45 resident.

Bins for dry & wet waste

Dry waste in blue bin: Plastic (must be rinsed if soiled), paper, metal, rubber, thermocol, old mops, dusters, sponges, cosmetics, ceramics, wooden chips, hair and coconut shells. 

Wet waste in green bin: Vegetables, fruit peels, cooked food, leftovers, egg shells, chicken/fish bones, rotten fruits, tea bags, coffee grinds and leaf plates.