Waste segregation at source effective in Gadag

Hubballi: The ambitious waste segregation at source programme launched by the Hubballi-Dharwad City Corporation (HDMC) on March 2018 has failed to yield the desired results, while the Gadag-Betageri City Municipal Council (GBCMC) has managed to implement it. When it launched the initiative, HDMC had warned residents to segregate waste at its source or to pay a heavy fine. Even after 2 years, nothing has changed, instead, HDMC civic workers put both wet and dry waste together in tippers.
While the plan of comprehensive solid waste management was finalised a decade ago, the HDMC is yet to establish separate chambers for dry and wet garbage in its autorickshaw tippers.
Mansoor Ali, municipal commissioner, GBCMC, told TOI that the segregation of garbage at source was launched a month ago. “We have trained civic workers to convince citizens to segregate waste at their residence itself. We are sending dry waste to a sugar factory and storing wet garbage at the solid waste management (SWM) unit. We are expecting some revenue from the sugar factory. Earlier there was a shortage of autorickshaw tippers. Now we have implemented the garbage segregation at source, and have already achieved 80% of our target. Still 20% of residents are not aware of segregation of waste at source, and we are continuing the awareness campaign for them. We hope we will achieve 100% success in the next three months,” he said.
Former HDMC mayor Sudhir Saraf, under whose tenure autorickshaw tippers were pressed into service, noted that the environment engineers who were at the HDMC, were trained in this regard. He has now been posted in Gadag-Betgeri and has implemented the same. Moreover, two SWM plants—one in Dharwad and another in Hubballi—set up at a cost of Rs 60 crore, are yet to be started. Their inauguration was deferred after elections, floods, change of commissioners and the pandemic. Though 90% of the work on the plants is completed, officials are not showing interest to start them,” he alleged.
Currently, HDMC has 187 autorickshaw tippers and 15 bigger tippers sanctioned under the Smart City project.
Vijaykumar R, executive engineer, SWM, HDMC, said that a proposal to modify municipal bylaws has been sent to the government.
“Once the government accords provision to impose fine on citizens for not segregating the garbage, we will implement it. As many as 60% of citizens are segregating garbage at its source in the twin cities, but the remaining 40% are yet to be sensitised on the issue,” he said.