Bhubaneswar: Experts at the day-long ‘Capacity Building Programme on Waste Management Rules-2016’ organised by Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation, stressed separation at source for municipal solid waste in the city for cost-effective and meaningful use of the waste generated by households and other stakeholders.
The workshop, organised jointly by BMC, Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and National Productivity Council (NPC) today mainly discussed Solid Waste Management Rules, Bio-medical Waste Management Rules, e-waste (Management) Rules, Hazardous and other Wastes (Management and Trans-boundary Movement) Rules, Plastic Waste Management Rules and Construction and Demolition Waste Management Rules, 2016 and tried to create more awareness on the salient features and how to make them effectively implemented.
Speaking on the occasion Tourism and Culture Minister Ashok Chandra Panda called for unanimity in selection of locations for sewerage treatment plants and pumping stations so that the growing city would benefit and all the citizens can benefit from urbanisation and city’s growth. He also spoke on more awareness on the e-waste management as the society is increasingly becoming dependant on the electronic gadgets.
MLAs Bijaya Kumar Mohanty and Priyadarshi Mishra of Bhubaneswar (Central) and North constituencies respectively, also spoke about better citizen-centric implementation so that with collaborative efforts the civic bodies could implement the six waste management rules, 2016.
Mayor Ananta Narayan Jena also spoke on better citizen partnered initiative so that with options like segregation at source, many things can be achieved including effective recycling and managing construction and building material wastes.
While today’s capacity building programme was organised by BMC, CPCB is the National Implementing Agency and NPC is the National Project Coordinator. In the workshop Mayor of CMC, Cuttack, Deputy Mayor of Brahmapur Municipal Corporation and their officials along with representatives from nine Urban Local Bodies across the State where AMRUT projects are currently being implemented, participated.
In his keynote address BMC Additional Commissioner Subham Saxena said “BMC has taken several steps with regard to waste management, such as online management of solid waste through vehicle tracking system, formation of special squad for C&D waste and is in the process to introduce recycle model for this. Steps are also being taken for initiating the proposed waste to energy plant at Bhuasuni.’’
It can also be mentioned here that for e-waste management BMC has tied up with IFC and the civic body will organise a workshop exclusively on e-waste management on January 12.
Member Secretary Odisha State Pollution Control Board Debidutta Biswal said “segregation at source can reduce the cost of SWM to almost 50 percent. This should be practised by all types of waste generators.’’
Professor Sadhan Kumar Ghosh of Jadavpur University spoke about awareness on use of three types of bins at every house, i.e. one WHITE for dry/paper waste, one GREEN for green/vegetable wastes and another BLACK for hazardous matters.
“This would also help waste generators to convert their wastes to wealth. If we segregate, then the wealth generation from waste will be easy, but if different types of waste are put inside a single bin, the monetising power or wealth generation capacity of the waste is lost or become less,’’ explained the SWM expert of international repute.
Sanjay Singh, an expert on C&D Waste said “the time has come when the Karnataka Government has allowed import of sand to Bangalore as the commodity has become so scarce. However, the same could be minimised if we can organise a healthy C&D recycle unit in the city and get the sand for use through the recycling process. With rapid urbanisation and rise of construction activities in cities, a time would come when we would be forced to think about this.’’
Biswajit Debnath, an expert on plastic waste management elaborated on successful initiatives on recycling and re-use of plastic waste in different cities of India and abroad. He further stressed use of plastic waste in construction of roads for longevity and eco-friendliness.
KK Sinha spoke on bio-medical waste management and the need for proper segregation and identification of different types of bio-medical waste such as radioactive wastes, chlorinated wastes and surgical wastes from different post-operative procedures. Rahul Baidya spoke on hazardous wastes and Mahendra Kumar Mohanty elaborated on the urgent need for scientifically managing e-wastes.
Comments are closed.