Indiscriminate Disposal, Lack Of Segregation And Treatment Plants Add To Noida’s Waste Woes

Waste segregation may be on the agenda of the government, given that it launched a massive campaign to push its two bin scheme to segregate waste into wet and dry waste on June 5, coinciding with World Environment Day. But the reality is that   implementation on ground is proving to be a huge struggle, and it is not just waste segregation but proper waste management in totality. Take the case of Noida in Delhi-NCR.

Despite generating nearly 660 metric tonnes of solid waste daily, waste management in the city is severely unplanned across all levels. Segregation is yet to catch up in majority of the city’s housing societies. Even in terms of collection and transportation of waste, the city’s civic authorities have failed to assign adequate manpower, resulting in erratic waste collection and abundance of waste being dumped along the roadside.

The Solid Waste Management Rules 2016, which clearly make it compulsory for urban local bodies to ensure that segregation happens at source, has gone for a toss in Noida.

Sources from the Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board (UPPCB) said that out of 150 residential societies which were sent notices to comply with solid waste management rules, only three had replied confirming that they were complying with the norms. Since the city civic body and the state pollution control board have only the authority to issue notices, enforcement remains the problematic part and in most cases the execution is poor.

Despite having sent notices to many residential societies, waste segregation has really not caught up in Noida. Residential socieities have not adhered to the rules and have not even responded back to our notices on why they haven’t adhered to the segregation rules. Many still keep disposing waste on roadsides, resulting in pollution, said Ashish Tiwari, Member Secretary, Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board.

Noida also suffers from the lack of a proper waste treatment plant within the city’s vicinity. Municipal workers often dispose of garbage on the roadside, resulting in heaps of waste across many parts of the city. Worse, accidental fires in garbage heaps result in severe air pollution across the city, adding to an already poor air quality. Noida’s Air Quality Index on an average is above 300 and on the morning post Diwali was 344, indicating very poor level of air quality against a permissible limit of 0 to 50.

Waste disposal is something we are trying to bring under control. We have already held a few bin distributing programmes in residential societies and will continue to do so, simultaneously making people aware of the positives of segregation. We are also planning to set up a waste treatment plant at Sector 123, which will solve much of the city’s garbage problems as waste will then be treated within the city’s premises, said a Noida Authority official.

Despite the tag of a planned city, Noida’s performance in waste management has not been up to the mark because of its citizens’ inability to segregate waste. Noida can learn from the example of cities like Bhopal and Indore which have successfully inculcated the habit of waste segregation among its citizens. Waste segregation will be the key to manage Noida’s waste till a waste treatment plant comes up.

Also Read: 313 Acres Of Land Given To Municipal Corporations For Waste Management: Delhi Development Authority