Noida has arguably made more progress in garbage management in the last two weeks than it did in the 42 years of its existence, largely because of the newfound urgency to put its house in order before it enters the Swachh Bharat rankings for the first time in 2019.But it’s not easy to make up for four decades of neglect. Environmentalists warn Noida could already be looking at a long-term drop in groundwater and soil quality because of haphazard garbage dumping all over the city. Residents have for years been complaining about the obvious health hazards faced by those living in the vicinity of open vats, where garbage lies rotting, untreated and unsegregated (dry, kitchen and toilet waste generally goes into the same bin bag and from there to the vats).“Groundwater contamination caused by indiscriminate dumping of non-segregated waste, long-term soil or water toxicity, and health issues originating from untreated piled up waste at a spot are some of the usual outcomes of non-treatment of solid waste,” says Swati Singh Sambhyal, a solid waste management expert at the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE).“The impact is evident after a time lapse but that doesn’t not mean the process has not started,” she added.Noida and Greater Noida produce around 900 tonnes of waste every day, a number that is expected to triple in 10 years because of fast population growth in NCR, but there is no designated spot where it can treat the garbage. It does not have a waste treatment plant either — though hyperlocal composting at source is what experts are increasingly advocating because of pollution concerns around centralised waste plants — or a waste management policy.While Astoli in Greater Noida was shortlisted as a designated site for processing municipal and solid waste, the Noida Authority cancelled that plan, citing financial unviability.It picked a site at Sector 123 instead but following protests and ultimately a directive from the CM to ensure no landfill comes up within 2km of a residential area, Noida backtracked. The city’s waste is now being dumped at a temporary site in Mubarakpur (Sector 145).Sambhyal doesn’t believe a landfill is a viable solution for a growing city like Noida, and suggests a zero-waste option. “The true solution for managing garbage in any city is to segregate it at source and convert the same at a local level. Alappuzha and Muzaffarnagar are two cities that have converted themselves into zero-waste on the basis of such a model. These are examples which Noida could emulate,” she says.So while Noida has recently floated contracts for door-to-door collection of garbage, and make households aware of segregation by roping in an NGO, it has a mammoth challenge ahead before it meets the standards set by solid waste management rules. “Noida is guilty of violating the solid waste management rules of 2016 on two counts. First, there is no segregation, and second, plastic usage has only just been stopped. So there’s a major task ahead to stream-line the segregation, collection and conversion of the waste in compliance with MoEFCC (environment ministry) guidelines,” says environment lawyer Gaurav Kumar Bansal.Now, as it prepares for Swachh Survekshan 2019, Noida has signed a 10-year contract, Rs 306-crore contract with a private firm for waste collection, which is expected to begin in December, a five-year, Rs 28-crore contract for mechanised sweeping of roads, and another with a private firm for managing construction and demolition debris, with a facility to be set up at Sector 140.RWAs, meanwhile, will be provided with subsidised compost machines to treat waste at source.“Residential sectors will be handed over in phases to the designated agency to begin door-to-door segregated waste collection,” says Omendra Srivastava, chief advisor and consultant to Noida Authority for the Swachh Bharat Mission. “By the end of 2019, all of Noida will come under segregated waste collection by the designated agency.”Srivatava says RWAs, too, were coming around to the idea of composting waste at source. Residents had opposed paying for compost machines, saying they had already paid municipal charges in their registry lease deeds. “So far, we have received interest enquiries from 10-12 RWAs who are procuring the compost machines from us. These include sectors 15A, 14, 108, 35, 56, 52 and more,” says Srivastava.

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