Ghantagadis trash hsg socs’ waste segregation efforts

Thane: Even as many housing societies in the city have started segregating and managing solid waste generated in their vicinity, lack of cooperation and support by the civic body has made their efforts go down the drain.
Most of the segregated waste in dumped randomly in garbage vans. The dry waste and wet waste gets mixed together as the garbage collection staff just dumps them in the vans.This has left environment-concious citizens wonder if their effort of trying to protect the environment is reaping any fruit or not.
A resident of Dhokali’s Highland Garden Complex Swati Kulkarni, who had brought together three housing societies in her area and started the segregating system a few months ago, said, “Since the last few months, over 400 flats in these three societies have been segregating their waste before dispossing it. However, after observing that most of this segregated waste is mixed again when dumped in the garbage van, it seems like a huge waste of time. We all want to do our part and help reduce the size of landfills, but if the corporation does not help in working towards it then our effort is futile.”
Another resident from Vijay Nagari, Shruti Desar, also shared the same views. “For a brief period, the civic body used to efficiently segregate waste. It was so strict that our building housekeeping staff refused to accept any unsegregated waste. Over the past few months, they just pile the waste together, which has led to our staff following suite,” she said.
Meanwhile, some citizens who began the zero-waste-society concept to avail the 5% property tax rebate promised by the corporation have been left under a cloud of uncertainty.
“Setting up a compost pit and other facilities to make our society zero waste cost us a few lakhs. The corporation has been promising a rebate on tax, which should make up for the investment in a couple of years. However, we are yet to receive clarification on that. In addition, there are a few times when the garbage vans have refused to collect our waste citing that it isn’t segregated. All this is enough to frustrate any citizen,” said a resident.
Dr. Leena Kelshikar, a Tarangan society resident, who has been instrumental in convincing many societies to take up solid waste management, said, “We are often questioned about the rebate promised by the civic body during waste management awareness workshops. But we ourselves have not received any rebate, so how can we clarify people’s doubts about it.”
Meanwhile, the civic officials have denied any laxity on their part. Balaji Haldekar, a senior civic official, said, “Each of our waste collection vehicles has two compartments as per the MSW 2000 norms. Following the 2016 rules, we will be adding one more compartment to the new vehicles. Our staff ensures that the wet and dry waste is collected separately and managed according to the rules. About the property tax rebate, the initiative was approved in the general body meeting on August 31. Once we get the final documents in our hands, we will publicise it and let citizens know about it.”