Gurugram: A hefty Rs 100 crore is spent annually on the cleaning of Gururgam as per the official records. In the month of October itself, over Rs 9 crore has been spent on cleaning the city.
Despite spending a substantial amount, the waste management of the city leaves much to be desired. If 25 lakh tonnes of garbage lying at Bandhwari landfill site was not enough for the administration to worry, now there are large parts of vacant areas where garbage is being dumped. In just two years (2017-2019), waste in Gurugram has increased from 700 to 1,200 tonnes.
Despite the plans by the government to harness the waste being dumped at the 30-acre site, no concrete action has been taken from the time the plant was commissioned in 2008 in the forest of Aravllis. The issue has come into the limelight as there are large cases of waste burning being reported from the city daily which is now being attributed as one of the major reasons for polluting the city's air. Even as the Gururgam agencies claim that action is being taken against the violators, residents do not seem to be impressed by the claims.
Lack of expertise in effective segregation of waste is proving to be the biggest impediment in the city's fight against toxic air.
Even after the order by higher judiciary and warning by public authorities, garbage continues to be burnt openly in the city leading to the deterioration of the city's air.
In a positive sign, however, most of the condominium societies have begun the process of composting. There have been several examples in the past where this process has generated positive results. Under the process of composting, the resident bodies have been explained to keep two separate bins of red colour and green colour for segregation of the waste.
The green bin will contain all the bio-degradable waste products like kitchen waste, food waste, and horticulture waste.
While the red bin will contain non-biodegradable waste and recyclable dry waste products like paper, bulb, tube lights, plastic, glass a, d wooden materials. The materials are then processed to make various biodegradable materials like manure, utensils and bags. With the decomposition of plastic waste also being a major issue, some of the residents have also taken up in the recycling plastic waste which is in the initial stages.