Welcoming the Centre's decision to notify construction and demolition management rules, a green body today said it was "urgently" needed as cities are choking on such waste which has serious environmental and public health consequences.
The Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) said the next step should be to create a clear mechanism for stringent action in cities for improved collection, segregation and handling of waste along with penalty for littering.
Developers should be asked to adopt good construction practices and ensure on-site segregation of waste, reuse and disposal, it said while also calling for a 'waste tax' for minimising waste generation.
"This is a significant step forward as construction and demolition of buildings generates enormous waste -- about half of all materials used -- that degrades the land and the environment.
"A CSE analysis has estimated that as much as 530 million tonnes of construction and demolition (C&D) waste is generated annually. The C&D waste is inert but bulky. It is either dumped in city landfills or in open spaces, water bodies and floodplains," it said.
In a first, the Centre yesterday came out with rules to manage construction and demolition waste by prohibiting its dumping on roadsides and drains, a move aimed at reducing dust, which contributes around 20 per cent to the pollution in big cities, including Delhi.
The Construction and Demolition Waste Management Rules, 2016, released by the Environment Ministry also makes it mandatory for local authorities to commission C&D waste plants in million-plus population cities within 18 months.
Cities with population of between 5-10 lakh have to go for such plants within two years and those with less than 5 lakh people have to launch the same within three years.
"CSE has found the new rules to be comprehensive. They clearly define the roles of all stakeholders: waste generator or developer, local authorities, the Centre and state governments, pollution control boards, standard-making agencies and recyclers.
"The big task will be to get these rules implemented and appropriate resources (financial and human power) allocated to local authorities. That will also require scaling up of capacity-building and recycling infrastructure," it said.
The new notification creates the legal framework for recycle and reuse of C&D waste in the construction industry.
