Waste Management

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The Supreme Court has flagged the "complete failure" of agencies in implementing the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016 in the national capital and directed the chief secretary of the Delhi government to call a meeting of all stakeholders to discuss the issue. The apex court observed it is a matter of immense importance that the 2016 Rules are implemented in their true letter and spirit in the capital city. "If we find that all other authorities do not come together and tell us the time-bound schedule for implementation of the 2016 Rules, the court may have to consider of passing harsh orders," a bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Augustine George Masih said in its order passed on November 11. The bench said, "We direct the chief secretary of the Delhi Government to call a meeting of all the stakeholders, including the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, to discuss the issue of implementation of the 2016 Rules". It said all stakeholders must come together and file a common report before

The Supreme Court was on Friday informed by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), which said by 2026 it will exceed its capacity of processing 11,000 tonnes of solid waste generated daily in the national capital. A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Augustine George Masih was informed by senior advocate Menaka Guruswamy, appearing for the MCD that in compliance of the court's order, the civic body was able to clear all the bottlenecks and had started the bidding process for hiring contractors for the management of municipal solid waste. "By 2026, we will not only be able to meet the new waste generated on a daily basis but also be ahead of it by 3,000 tonnes a day. We have started the tender process and in the next two weeks, we will be able to finalise the bids for the purpose," she submitted. Guruswamy further said that due to the July 26 order of the apex court, the MCD was able to get all necessary clearances and the work had now started. "The Delhi government has set the li

The Delhi government on Monday issued an order delegating the financial powers of the Standing Committee to MCD Commissioner Ashwani Kumar, allowing him to approve proposals requiring expenditures of Rs 5 crore and above for various municipal solid waste management contracts. A political slugfest erupted between the Aam Aadmi Party and the Lt Governor's office over the issue as both accused the other of delaying the passage of the order. The move comes amid a political deadlock between the ruling AAP and opposition BJP in the MCD over the constitution of the Standing Committee, the highest decision-making body of the civic body, which otherwise had the authority to approve contracts exceeding Rs 5 crore. The formation of the Standing Committee has been delayed for over 19 months and the matter is currently in the court. According to the order issued by the urban development department, the Delhi government has exercised its powers under Section 202(c) of the Delhi Municipal ...

With the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan marking its 10th anniversary, the government is now planning to expand its efforts, focusing not only on eliminating open defecation but also on more comprehensive sanitation and waste management strategies, a senior official has said. The Swachh Bharat Abhiyan is a country-wide campaign initiated by the government in 2014 to eliminate open defecation and improve solid waste management and to create open defecation free villages. Asked about the road ahead, Vini Mahajan, Secretary, Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Ministry of Jal Shakti, said they are now planning to expand its efforts. "Sanitation began as a journey to free the country from open defecation, recognising that this practice was a significant curse we needed to eliminate. While progress has been made, there is still an ongoing need to identify families who lack toilets and ensure they receive them. It's equally important to keep existing toilets functional," the official ...

Consul General of the United States in Mumbai, Mike Hankey, has said that waste management was an important issue, not just for an urbanising Maharashtra, but for communities across India and around the world. He was speaking here on Thursday the sidelines of 'TechCamp Pune', an event focused on the theme of redesigning sustainable urban waste management. The US Consulate General, Mumbai, in partnership with the Symbiosis International University Centre for Waste Resource Management, ExploreiT and the Climate Reality Project held the 'TechCamp Pune', a release said. The event brought together US and international trainers and over 45 waste management professionals from Maharashtra, including technocrats, policymakers, industry leaders, researchers, entrepreneurs, and civil society leaders and other stakeholders. Participants worked together over four days to define pressing waste management challenges and develop practical solutions to address them. They explored how digital tools

Union Minister Bhupender Yadav said that his ministry has submitted guidelines for one-time financial aid to waste recycling start-ups in India, where municipal solid waste management is a big concern

Union minister Manohar Lal Khattar said on Friday said out of 2,300 identified garbage dumping sites across India, 427 have been fully cleaned, freeing up 4,500 acres of land and asserted that the remaining locations would be cleaned in the next two years. The Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs of India, addressing media, said the nationwide garbage-free cities initiative began in 2021, with only 18 per cent of solid waste being processed at the time. Today, that figure has risen to 73 per cent. "We are currently processing 1.5 lakh tons of solid waste per day," he said, adding that the country has identified 22 crore metric tons of waste at 2,300 dump sites. Highlighting the country's progress towards creating garbage-free cities, Khattar noted that a significant portion of the cleaned land has been repurposed for development projects, including initiatives to generate electricity from waste. "Some of the projects on these lands are focused on waste-to-energy solutions," he ...

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Major irregularities were detected in the performance audit of solid waste management in Jharkhand's urban local bodies (ULBs), according to the latest CAG report tabled in the assembly on Friday. Anomalies were found in planning and institutional mechanisms, financial management, implementation of solid waste management (SWM) projects, expenditures, and other areas, the report said. The performance audit involved test-checking 14 sampled ULBs out of 50, covering the financial years 2017-18 to 2021-22. This audit was conducted between July 2022 and January 2023 to assess the quality of SWM facilities, the report added. The state government notified the Jharkhand State Urban Sanitation Policy in 2018. The audit revealed that none of the 14 test-checked ULBs had prepared SWM plans. Additionally, nine out of the 14 ULBs failed to recognise organisations of informal waste pickers or collectors. "There was a 28 per cent vacancy for sanitary supervisors and an 89 per cent vacancy in the

Asian Development Bank and the Government of India recently signed a USD 200 million (about Rs 1,700 crore) loan to improve solid waste management and sanitation in 100 cities across eight states in the country. The signatories to the loan agreement for the Swachh Bharat Mission 2.0 -Comprehensive Municipal Waste Management in Indian Cities Program were Juhi Mukherjee, Joint Secretary, Finance Ministry, and Mio Oka, Country Director for Asian Development Bank (ADB) - India Resident Mission, the Manila-based multilateral funding agency said in a statement on Tuesday. After signing the loan agreement, Mukherjee said that the programme supports the objectives of the government's Swachh Bharat (Clean India) Mission - Urban 2.0 by enhancing sanitation and solid waste management infrastructure, including waste segregation, collection and disposal. "This programme is guided by lessons derived from ADB's experience in urban infrastructure development across several states and will incorpora

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The Supreme Court on Monday slammed authorities for their failure to process municipal solid waste generated in Delhi and termed it "sorry state of affairs". The apex court observed that in the national capital, 3,000 tonnes of municipal solid waste generated remains untreated every day. "What is the solution to that," a bench of justices AS Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan asked the lawyers appearing for different authorities, including the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD). The bench observed that the issue of processing municipal solid waste was "very vital" for the national capital and there should be no politics be involved in this. The hearing in the matter has been passed over and will be taken up again during the day. While hearing the matter on April 22, the apex court had termed as "shocking" that 3,000 tonnes of the 11,000 tonnes of municipal solid waste generated in Delhi every day was not processed. The top court, which had perused a report of the Commission of Air Quality ..

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