Hakim urges all civic bodies to stress on regular disposal of solid waste

Kolkata: Firhad Hakim, the state Urban Development and Municipal Affairs minister, on Thursday urged representatives of all civic bodies in the state to take necessary measures to stress on disposal of solid waste on a regular basis, as scarcity of vacant land to dump the same has come up as a major problem in urban areas.

Hakim addressed the review meeting on Mission Nirmal Bangla and Vector Borne Disease Control Programme organised by the state Urban Development and Municipal Affairs department at Biswa

Bangla Convention Centre on Thursday. Top brass of the civic bodies in the state were present in the meeting.

"The volume of solid waste is going up every day and at the same time, vacant place to dump the same is not easily available. So stress is needed to be given on the use of new technologies to dispose solid wastes instead of leaving it for dumping," he said.

He added: "It can be done by setting up small compost plants or by introducing simple recycle mechanism. The segregated waste that turns to compost needs to be sent to compost-making plants, while building material wastes can be turned to sand-like granules to utilise the same in road construction or similar purposes. For this, the most important step that needs to be taken is collection of segregated waste at the initial stage itself, when collectors go door-to-door."

He urged the top brass of the civic bodies to complete the door-to-door awareness campaign on the need of segregation of waste at the initial stage itself.

In a bid to ensure turning of waste to compost, the Urban development and Municipal Affairs minister urged small civic bodies to set up compost plants in clusters while bigger ones can have their own.

Citing example of bio-mining at dhapa in Kolkata, Hakim stated that it would take some time and two similar heaps of solid waste will come up by the time it gets completed.

"So the only way is regular disposal of solid waste instead of sending it to dumping ground," he said, adding that experts have also been consulted for necessary suggestions.