Ghaziabad: In an effort to improve its ranking in the Swachh Survekshan 2019, the Ghaziabad Municipal Corporation has decided to focus on segregating waste at its source and set up composting plants in residential societies rather than depending on large dumping sites. It has also decided to set up four separate recycling plants to treat different types of waste.According to sources, Ghaziabad generates civic waste in excess of 1,000 metric tonnes per day.The GMC is currently in the process of prevailing on societies which generate more than 50kg of civic waste to set up a composting plant within their premises. “Our aim is to segregate waste at source so that our dependency on dumping site which we are planning in Galand is reduced,” said C P Singh, municipal commissioner.On Monday, the GMC organised a workshop, attended by representatives of 286 local bodies from six districts in western UP. The GMC, owing to its stellar performance in Swachh Survekshan 2018, has been chosen to lead other municipalities by sharing its experience on how to improve its ranking in the next survey.In the last survey, Ghaziabad had earned the tag of the ‘fastest mover’ city.“The workshop, which was organised by GMC on Monday to help out other local bodies by offering suggestions to improve their rankings in Swachh Survekshan 2019, saw the participation of 286 local bodies from Agra, Aligarh, Bareilly, Moradabad, Meerut and Saharanpur districts,” said C P Singh.“As per the tool kit provided by Union ministry of housing and urban affairs for Swachh Survekshan 2019, the format and the indicators have been changed a bit. In 2019, the total marks will be 5,000 as against 4,000 last year. Under the new format, 1,250 marks each have been assigned on four parameters which are citizen feedback, service level progress, direct observation and certification,” added Singh.“For GMC, though it is an uphill task to improve its ranking, it has already started the work as per the new parameters set by the Union ministry of housing and urban affairs,” said the commissioner.The GMC also intends to set up a construction and demolition waste recycling plant, material recovery centre, flowers/leaves composting plant and a plastic processing unit to improve waste management.A five-acre land will be identified to develop ac onstruction and demolition waste recycling plant, he said.“We intend to invite private firms to develop the plant on BOT basis for a period of 15 years. The firm will be allowed to collect construction waste from across the city which it will recycle to make interlocking tiles, mortar chips and also for filling up trenches and potholes,” said Singh.A material recovery centre will also be set up which will segregate 60 types of trashes including polythene, bottles, wooden waste etc. “Apart from this, by October 2, we will start a compost plant in Sai Upavan which will exclusively deal with wastes from religious ceremonies like flowers, leaves etc,” said Singh.To manage plastic waste, the GMC will also set up a plastic processing unit and efforts are underway to establish one, he said. “In fact, GDA has finalised a proposal to set up a solid waste plant in every society which has an area of over 2,000 sqm, and to be part of the building bylaws,” said Singh.However, Singh added that it would be an uphill task to improve the ranking in 2019. “We will have to compete with all cities in the country. The steps which we intend to take up will be a quite a challenge,” he said.

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