Delhi: Civic bodies aim to mechanize waste collection points before elections | Latest Delhi News

The garbage collection point (dhalao) mechanization project in the city has now entered its final stage, with city officials setting March 2022 as the deadline to phase out all remaining operational dhalaos and attempt to complete the project before the municipal elections scheduled. Next year.

The mechanization project started in October 2016 with the inauguration of five fixed compactor transfer stations (FCTS) by LG Najeeb Jung. Delhi has over 1,209 primary garbage receptacle points with 550 of these points under the jurisdiction of North MCD (Delhi Municipal Corporation), 350 points with the Southern Municipal Body and 309 receptacles in the East Delhi Municipal Corporation

Traditionally an open three-walled structure, an open dhalao is used as the primary collection of municipal waste for a settlement or locality. A stationary garbage compaction station operates on a hydraulically operated garbage compression system, which reduces the volume of garbage and turns it into highly compressed cakes of mixed waste. It usually includes a garbage inlet bin, dump body, loading shovel bucket, compressor and hook loader.

SDMC mayor Mukesh Suryan said each of the 104 municipal wards under the civic body has three to four dhalaos. “Municipal garbage from these three four points can be handled by a single garbage compaction system, reducing the need for space and minimizing transportation costs. Now we have developed such compaction stations in 96 neighborhoods and the remaining neighborhoods will be covered over the next six months. We are facing a problem of land availability at the remaining sites, especially in the unauthorized settlements, and permission from other government departments is also required, ”Suryan said. The SDMC started the mechanization project in 2016 by setting up FCTS in the central zone.

The closure of dhalaos and the diversion of garbage to other sites have also led to conflicts between different localities. Several neighborhood city councilors, such as Chirag Dilli and Sangam Vihar, have raised the issue of garbage being diverted from neighboring neighborhoods to their neighborhood.

Suryan said councilors have sometimes reported these issues, when there is a delay in the removal of municipal waste from the site, but once an FCTS is in place, the company can stop the movement of waste from the site. ‘one area to another. On average, the territories under the jurisdiction of the SDMC produce 3,600 tonnes of waste every day.

A senior municipal official from the sanitation department said that although the initial entry costs of FCTS are high, it allows the municipal body to reduce the expense of transporting municipal waste to landfills and waste to the city. power plant.

East Municipality Mayor Shyam Sunder Agarwal said each FCTS is helping them reduce the number of trips garbage collection trucks have to make to transport garbage. “Compressed garbage cakes are easier to transport. A large truck can carry the same amount of waste, which was previously transported by 5-7 trucks earlier, ”he added.

“20 compaction stations have been installed and four units have already started operating while the others will start operating within the next two months. We will use 38 FCTS and another 10 units can be added as needed, ”Agarwal said. Experts have repeatedly pointed out that the use of compactors can disrupt the separation of secondary waste by the informal sector and waste managers.

The high costs of inputs have led the municipality of the East to take a different path between the three civic bodies. The eastern company plans to transform 64 traditional dhalaos into wet-dry waste sorting centers where secondary sorting of municipal waste will be carried out. “In total, we will have 100 municipal waste treatment centers by March 2022,” said the mayor.

The northern company, which covers an area of ​​604.5 km² and caters to 62 lakhs, has the largest number of bins (550). The civic body has installed 70 compaction machines in its jurisdiction and around 300 dhalaos have been shut down. North MCD mayor Raja Iqbal Singh said the company will install 40 more compaction machines over the next six months and declare the area dhalao-free.

In the meantime, the SDMC has already approved a budget of ??12.5 crore, set aside ??10 lakh for each site, to redevelop the closed dhalaos sites into mini-libraries, reading rooms and recreation centers for the elderly. Mayor Suryan said the smaller sites can be used as a neighborhood office for sanitation staff.