The Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) is working towards eliminating dumper bins across the city in order to improve its ranking on the Garbage-Free Cities (GFC) list as part of Swachh Survekshan 2021.
As part of a pilot project towards this initiative, the corporation will be removing 16-20% of dumper bins in the civic body limits.
Solid waste is being collected from households in two ways under GVMC limits. In some areas, workers collect garbage from households, take the waste in a push-cart, and dump it in bins. In other areas, workers use hired vehicles to collect waste from houses and transfer it directly to heavy vehicles, which then shift the waste to the dumping yard.
The GVMC now plans to remove bins in some of the areas where hired vehicles are being used to collect garbage.
The problem with dumper bins is that garbage stays there till being cleared, attracting flies, insects and rodents.
Explaining one of the aspects of GFC rating, GVMC Commissioner G. Srijana said that when door-to-door garbage collection is strong, and transportation of waste is efficient, intermediate storage (such as dumper bins) is not required. Except litter bins, there is no need for compactor bins or dumper bins, she said.
She said that wherever hired vehicles are being deployed to collect wastes from households, dumper bins can be removed from those places.
Communication is key
“This requires proper planning because sometimes the vehicles may not be able to collect garbage from houses due to vehicle breakdown or some other reasons. If this happens, where will people dump their waste? So when these hired vehicles fail to report to duty, they are being asked to inform us in advance so that we can send a GVMC vehicle in its place. Proper communication is essential,” she said.
Ms Srijana said that the corporation has 250 hired vehicles working on door-to-door garbage collection. “We are going to remove bins in only a few areas, which will amount to removal of 16-20% of the total number of bins. If this works out successfully, we will extend this initiative in other areas also,” she said.
It may be remembered that the GVMC has applied for seven-star rating in the GFC ratings this year. Last year, the corporation applied for five-star rating and achieved three stars.
