Bins to be distributed to sanitation teams

Over a year after removing garbage bins from the public spaces of the city as part of ‘bin free city’ campaign, GHMC is all set to bring back bins, albeit in a different format

Instead of the blue bins, however, this time it will be wheeled bins, to be distributed to the sanitation teams across the city.

“The move is to provide some container for the sweepers to deposit the trash in. Otherwise, they are making small mounds of swept waste on the roadside and leaving them there,” shared an official from the civic body.

The corporation launched the ‘bin free city’ campaign last year in the first quarter, with its aims set on the Swachh Survekshan rankings by the Central government. Thousands of garbage receptacles were removed from all the nooks of the city, as part of the campaign.

The idea was to compensate by increasing the number of transfer stations to cover the whole city, so that the Swachh Auto Trolleys could directly deposit the garbage there.

The campaign drew flak during its initial days, as residents started to throw garbage on the roads in the absence of bins, littering the whole city. Besides, not all the colonies were being covered by the SAT vehicles, as garbage lifting by them came at a cost,

Despite the backlash, the corporation stood its ground, and refused to bring back the bins. Instead, new transfer stations are in the process of being set up to cover wider areas.

“When the blue bins were there, sweepers deposited trash in them. Now that they do not have any receptacle, we have to provide the same,” the official said.

The new bins are being provided by Ramky Enviro Engineers Limited (REEL), the city’s solid waste management concessionaire firm, as a corporate social responsibility initiative.

A total 5,000 wheeled bins with 120 liters capacity each and each costing Rs. 3,000, will be distributed among the sanitation teams, the official informed.

“Sweepers may deposit the street waste in the bin, and garbage trucks in tow will in turn take the waste away to the transfer station,” he said.