The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) renewed initiative to segregate wet and dry waste before it is collected from the households is likely to reduce around 20% of the total waste generated in the city. The city generates over 6,500 metric tonnes of waste a day. This consists of bio-degradable waste, recyclable waste, inert matter and construction waste & silt.
Around 15-20 % of the total waste, according to officials, is recyclable while another large portion is biodegradable. The civic body has come out with draft bylaws that would make segregation of waste mandatory for every household. The civic administration has planned to ask housing colonies, hotels and commercial establishments to segregate waste into dry and wet before the BMC collects it at collection centres. Once the scheme is implemented in the whole city, waste need not be dumped.
The civic administration will penalise those who do not follow the scheme. While smaller establishments will be fined anything between र100 and र500, bigger ones will attract a fine of र1000. Garbage centres will be set up where ragpickers can collect and segregate items of dry waste and sell them.