The Indian Express          07.11.2013

Struggling to manage solid waste, civic body rushes to private firms

With major waste processing civic units not delivering results as
expected, the standing committee of the PMC has decided to visit the
processing plants run by private firms to understand and resolve the
issue.

“The civic administration has been ruing that the waste
management is suffering due to the existing plants not running as
expected. Several problems are being faced in running them and it has
had its impact on the city’s waste collection,” said standing committee
chairperson Vishal Tambe.

He added that the PMC was spending a lot of money for waste
management and its efforts were being appreciated across the country,
but problems have started emerging in waste processing.

“The committee members will visit the mega processing plants to
understand and resolve the issue to make them operational,” Tambe said.

Joint Municipal Commissioner Suresh Jagtap said one of the
processing plants faced problem as the power utility discontinued supply
for not paying the electricity bill dues. “The plants are operational
now, but they run at 70 per cent of their actual capacity. The private
firms running the plants are struggling to make it financially viable,”
he said, adding the waste generated in the city was also increasing
every day.

Jagtap said the civic administration was planning mass burning of
the waste that could not be processed or recycled instead of dumping in
landfill sites.