Waste Corporation hires private agency to map garbage

PANAJI: While the unruly littering and dumping of waste continues to be a festering problem, the Goa Waste Management Corporation (GWMC) has hired a private agency to conduct a state-wide study on garbage. The findings of the study will be used to frame a comprehensive policy for the scientific management of waste.
The setting up of a waste treatment plant was expected to make a difference to Goa’s existing garbage woes.However, the state continues to be haunted by ugly sights of piles of litter, waste being set on fire and plastic bags on roadsides and floating in water bodies. Measures to tackle the problem also continue to be rolled out, but in bits and pieces, sources said.
The corporation has now engaged Copperstone Consulting to map garbage and other waste and the quantum of it generated across the state.
“It is a process being initiated to frame a state policy for waste management. One of the main parameters we need to understand is what constitutes waste. For this, we need to carry out an extensive survey of waste generators, commercial, industrial and domestic,” said GWMC managing director Sanjit Rodrigues.
The agency has already initiated a drive to enrol volunteers for the massive task of generating data in panchayat and municipal areas. “We need to understand the ground reality. We will cover all samples taluka-wise, rural and urban, low, middle and higher income groups, clinics, hospitals, supermarkets, marriage halls and others,” said the consultancy’s business head Carlos Menezes.
The volunteers will map the areas covered by waste segregation schemes and study methods of disposal. They will also create awareness about the importance of segregation of waste at the source. The exercise will further involve collection of wet, dry and bio-hazardous waste samples. “The bags of waste collected will be weighed. This will help us to determine the individual characteristics of waste for appropriate and specific policies for each area,” Menezes said.
Once the three-week long survey is completed, policy building may take about a year. GWMC officials meanwhile are gearing up for the ban on plastic carry bags and packaging material below 50 microns. Chief minister, Manohar Parrikar had announced the ban on Liberation Day, December 19, 2017. It is expected to be implemented from May 30, Statehood Day.