Lucknow to take a leaf out of Indore's clean & efficient solid waste management book

In a bid to solidify and facilitate better solid waste management (SWM) in the city, the Lucknow Municipal Corporation (LMC) has numerous changes in mind. Taking inspiration from the rather efficient waste disposal system laid by Indore's civic body, the LMC has announced a detailed plan for effective SWM.

Herein, the biodegradable waste, which makes up for some 40% of the totality of the garbage generated in Lucknow, will be managed at the source. In short, the "treat at the source" strategy will be implemented where the organic waste will be treated and reused at the source itself. When it comes to non-biodegradable waste, the solution lies in segregating, treating, and recycling the same.

The city produces about 2,000 metric tonnes of solid waste on a daily basis.

After the various meetings with Indore civic body, the following changes are being executed under the Swachh Bharat Mission.

All bulk garbage generators (like hotels, restaurants, canteens, hostels, and so on) will be instructed to establish a composter that turns garbage into manure. The LMC will acquaint the bulk producers with how to set up the composter and they will, thus, be guided about the whole process. As per reports, they will be fined ₹5,000 if the practise is not followed after the trainings. Similarly, residents’ welfare associations (RWAs) will also be encouraged to build these composters but will not be fined if they fail to do the same.

Additionally, local residents will also be educated, during awareness campaigns, about the advantages of segregating waste at the source and encouraged to do the same. With this, door-to-door waste collection remains in full swing.

Besides this, some 10 material resource recovery centres or MRFs (material recovery facilities) have also been proposed to be constructed. This will help in, like the name suggests, the recovery of the material (like bottles, glass, plastic, metals, cardboard, steel cans, cartons, etc) from garbage piles that can be used and recycled.

“Material resource recovery, also called a material reclamation/recycling facility, is a plant that separates and prepares single-stream recycling material to be sold to end buyers. The focus of the LMC is to reduce, recycle and reuse plastic and other waste material," Lucknow Municipal Commissioner Inderjeet Singh explained.

LMC is also slated to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with a private company in order to establish a bio-CNG plant in Lucknow. The plant is said to have a capacity of processing 300-400 tonnes of wet waste (which is about half of the total waste generated).

Indore bagged the title of the cleanest city in India for the sixth consecutive year in 2022 and other cities are taking note. Earlier this month, Prayagraj decided to adopt the clean city's model and started working on implementing the same.

All of the changes in the pipeline by LMC are in line with the waste model of Indore.