Rag-pickers to be trained in managing waste

The East Delhi Municipal Corporation along with its South Delhi counterpart is going to start a zero waste management scheme on a pilot basis in East Vinod Nagar and Dwarka areas.

The aim of the project is to segregate garbage at source for further utilization and minimise the amount of garbage which is dumped at sanitary landfill sites.

The East Delhi civic body announced the project on Friday, during the presentation of its budget for 2015-16. The corporation claims this will strengthen Swachh Bharat Mission and will also ease pressure on sanitary landfill sites, which have exhausted capacity.

The project will be launched in Dwarka and will be implemented simultaneously at East Vinod Nagar. Both the projects are estimated to start by early next year.

A team of the South Delhi Municipal Corporation studied and proposed to adopt this model successfully undertaken in Pune, for segregation, disposal and composting on ward and housing society-level.

The two corporations had called for a joint expression of interest from private companies and claim they have received encouraging response from over 15 firms willing to participate in the project. 

If the results of the project are satisfactory, the civic bodies will implement it in Vasant Kunj.

The East body has demarcated the land in East Vinod Nagar and DDA has allotted 5 acres of land for the project in Dwarka.

“Under zero waste management, rag-pickers will be trained in segregating different kinds of waste. Garbage collectors will have two bins for dry and wet waste which will enable segregation of waste at source through door-to-door collection method,” said Manish Gupta, commissioner EDMC. 

Dry waste, including paper and plastic, will be sent to a centralised recycling plant. Wet waste like peels of fruits and vegetables will be dumped in compost pits at the local level, while other organic material will be sent to biogas plants. The remaining waste will then be sent to the landfill. So far corporation claims that households will give a minimum of Rs. 30 a month to the NGO for door-step collection while residents of slums will pay Rs. 10.

Corporation claims that rag pickers trained by the company would be able to sell recyclable waste which will help them earn an extra buck.

“The project is very cost effective and will help us in cutting short expense on transportation of waste to the landfill sites. We will save drastically on fuel and vehicles deployed for collecting and dumping waste. Moreover, it will decongest the road as huge trucks involved in dumping garbage will be off roads,” explained Gupta.