The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has collected nearly 2.5 tonnes of sanitary and special care waste every day since the launch of a dedicated service in April.
In a press release issued on Thursday, the Mumbai civic body said that more than 4,000 housing societies, women’s hostels, beauty parlours, educational institutions and other entities have registered for the initiative through a QR (quick response) code-based self-registration system.
Each ward in Mumbai has been provided with a dedicated vehicle of 0.6-tonne capacity for the collection of sanitary and special care waste.
The city generates between 7,000 and 8,000 tonnes of solid waste daily, of which 70–80 tonnes comprises sanitary waste such as used diapers, sanitary napkins, tampons and incontinence sheets. When mixed with household garbage, it poses health risks to sanitation workers and contributes to environmental degradation, civic officials said.
Under the dedicated service, the BMC has also covered waste contaminated with bodily fluids such as cotton, gauze and bandages, medical waste like syringes and expired medicines, beauty parlour disposables, as well as animal faeces. Such waste is to be placed in designated yellow bags for safe collection and disposal.
At present, BMC operates 11 plasma incineration plants, each with a capacity of four tonnes per day, to process this waste. The civic body has made it mandatory for bulk waste generators to segregate sanitary and special care waste at the source and hand it over for safe disposal.
According to the Mumbai civic corporation, the initiative is aimed at protecting sanitation workers, ensuring environmentally sound disposal of hazardous waste, and driving behavioural change among citizens.
BMC also stated that the move will help in reducing the stigma around sanitary waste and strengthen Mumbai’s overall waste management system.
BMC installs bollards on footpaths in Dadar and Matunga to keep motorists away
Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Thursday started work on redesigning the existing bollards on the footpaths of Baba Saheb Ambedkar Road, near the Dadar and Matunga areas. The bollards have been installed to restrict two-wheeler motorists from reaching the footpaths and jeopardising pedestrian safety.
BMC`s work came in response to a letter written to the civic body`s F/North ward office by the Matunga division of the Mumbai Traffic Police, following complaints from residents and subsequent follow-up by Mid-Day.
Mid-Day on Thursday, a reported on the issue, highlighting the safety hazards from unauthorised parking on footpaths and racing bikers on the footpaths in this area, which has among the widest footpaths in the city, close to 4 metres in width.
Residents of the area pointed out that since the Elphinstone Bridge has been demolished by the civic body, BA Road gets choked not only by traffic going towards the island city but also by motorists commuting from East to West Mumbai.
The congestion has augmented the problem of bikers trying to get up on the footpath to cut short their commute time by a few minutes. Even though there are `no parking` boards installed by the civic body along all footpaths in the area, Mid-Day noticed during a spot visit on Tuesday that two-wheelers are parked along the footpath near Khodadad Circle and in Matunga.
The traffic police had highlighted 18 spots where riders take the footpath instead of the carriageway, seeking BMC`s intervention in setting up zig-zag barricades. The work on this infrastructure started on Thursday morning.
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