HIDCO to launch app for garbage collection

The Housing and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HIDCO) is contemplating to collect waste from individual households by using technology. It plans to launch an app using which residents can ask conservancy workers to collect solid waste from their houses.

The HIDCO authorities have assigned the University of Science and Management to conduct a study and find the pros and cons of what the authorities call ‘Uberisation of solid waste management.’

If successful, the plan will be introduced in New Town. It is hoped that the system will work in New Town where the structure of collection of garbage from individual houses and flats have not yet started. 

The plan will also help residents to sell items that can be recycled. The perennial problem of carrying loads of old newspaper to market can be solved by using this technology. Collector can now come to your door to collect them. Similarly, fused bulbs pose a major problem. Often they are thrown into the garbage vats and drug addicts, who often throng around them, break them aggravating the problem.This can be avoided by using the app. Professor of an educational institution along with students is studying the matter. It may be mentioned that some teacher in IIT- Kharagpur have started the practice on the basis of a pilot project implemented in the areas surrounding IIT campus. The proposal might be incorporated in the smart city plan which the HIDCO authorities will submit before the Urban Development Ministry by mid-April. New Town is likely to get the smart city tag in May. If this happens it will get Rs 100 crore from Centre for five years and another Rs 100 crore from the state government for the same period. If this app becomes functional, New Town will go ahead, making it an intelligent city.