Activists demand strict waste segregation

Mumbai: The environmentalists have highlighted that the process of waste segregation needs to be done more strictly as more landfills will only increase the accumulation of solid waste in the city.

On Friday, the Bombay high court directed the state government to identify a new plot for dumping waste and allot it to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) within two months. While the BMC has been asking for extensions for dumping the garbage in the Deonar dumping ground, it has stated that it is doing so because of the lack of available land for the same.

A division bench, of Justice Abhay Oka and Justice Riyaz Chagla, was hearing a PIL filed in 2009 by activist Pandurang Patil, seeking strict implementation of municipal solid waste management rules. “Many societies are still not segregating the waste properly, which is going to the landfills of Mumbai. The lack of segregation will only make a Deonar or Mulund dumping ground of the new site. The authorities need to ensure that the societies become zero waste instead of putting more waste in other sites,” said Rishi Aggarwal, a solid waste expert.

“All the wards need to make sure that the garbage is disposed within the same area and no waste is transported outside the ward’s boundaries. But now the authorities are investing more on transportation of the waste rather than making wards self sufficient,” Mr Aggarwal added.