"Mumbai Chak-a-Chak" .

Cleanliness and Solid Waste Management: B- Ward Project in Mumbai

Transformation of Memonwada Collection Spot

MEDC carried out a day and night survey of Memonwada collection spot which is one of the most critical collection spots in B ward. Major sources of waste at this spot are hotels/restaurants, municipal property namely Imamwada BIT chawl with 900 households, Karimabad society with 450 households.. A substantial quantity of non veg waste generated through chicken slaughter in the small lanes and housegallis in the ward also gets dumped at this spot.

Approximately, 24 tonnes of waste is collected at this spot every day! The spot is serviced by a compactor, with a capacity of 8 tonnes waste, three times a day. Following picture gives the status of Memonwada collection spot :

                  

What MEDC has done?

MEDC has refurbished the shed. In order to reduce the waste collected at this collection spot MEDC has initiated following steps:

1. Direct collection of hotel waste from the restaurants in the area. – A night service has been started by the ward office for direct collection of waste from Hotels in the vicinity of Memonwada collection spot as per the recommendations of MEDC.

2. Reduction in the garbage coming to this spot by initiating house to house collection in the nearby societies such as Imamwada BIT chawl: MEDC has carried out awareness programs for the community initiatives in this regards. The response is overwhelming. An Advanced Locality Management (ALM) has been formed. The ALM has undertaken the responsibility of collecting waste in a segregated form. A composting pit has been set up in the premises of Imamwada BIT chawl, which will start functioning shortly.

3. Manning of the collection spot – MEDC has provided manpower to support the staff provided by MCGM for 24 hours manning of the collection spot for an initial period of two months.

4. Prominent Restaurants in the vicinity have been provided with Wheel Burroughs of 120 and 240 ltr capacity and have been requested to adjust the timings of dumping their waste according to the compactor (garbage collection vehicle) timings so that double handling of waste at the spot is avoided at the spot.

Memonwada Collection spot after refurbishment and after implementation of the above mentioned initiatives changed as follows:

However we would like to point out that there has been some resistance from BMC labour to adapt to the new system. Hence unless a strong commitment along with an ownership feeling at the ward level is exhibited above picture will not last longer. Already some teething problems such as breakage of the wheels of the trolleys, damage to the flooring of the shed etc. have started.