Mumbai Aims To Quadruple Domestic Hazardous Waste Collection As BMC Targets 4 Lakh Households, More Parlours

The city generates approximately 70 to 80 tonnes of domestic hazardous waste (DHW) every day. However, only around 7 tonnes are currently being transported to six plasma incineration facilities for scientific disposal.

In a bid to address this gap, the civic body has set a target of reaching four lakh households to collect at least 20 tonnes of DHW. DHW, including items like used sanitary napkins and diapers, is often discarded with general waste, posing health risks to sanitation workers and harming the environment.

To address this, the BMC launched a dedicated collection service for sanitary and special care waste on April 22, aiming to ensure safer and more hygienic disposal of personal-use items. As of July 1, a total of 1,919 registrations have been completed under the initiative, comprising 1,140 housing societies, 677 beauty parlours, 75 educational institutions, and 27 women's hostels-reaching approximately 4.5 lakh citizens. 

Dedicated vehicles have been deployed by each ward to collect waste from the registered entities. To date, approximately 61.5 tons of domestic sanitary and special care waste have been collected, with a daily average collection of 1.7 tons, and transported to six plasma incineration facilities for safe and scientific disposal. However, due to poor segregation of waste at the source, these plants have been operating below capacity.

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"Currently, five tonnes of DHW is collected from one lakh households, and two tonnes from around 1,000 beauty parlours. To meet the target, we need to reach four lakh households to collect 20 tonnes, and 5,000 beauty parlours to gather 10 tonnes,” said a civic official, adding that a ward-wise master plan is being prepared to bridge the gap.

The highest daily collection of hazardous waste is recorded in P South ward (Goregaon) at 304 kg, while the lowest is in E ward (Byculla), with just 12 kg collected per day. Recently BMC invited tenders for the operation and maintenance of 11 additional plasma-based DHW processing units across the city and its suburbs.