Page 41 - Plastics News Issue October 2025
P. 41
ENVIRONMENT NEWS
days in the Brahmapuram landfill in Kochi, the Paying for trashing
high court sought remedial measures. Officials
say biomining and remediation of these 44 However, not all cities have been willing to en-
dumpsites are underway. Of these, 20 landfills force fines. Most even shy away from charging
are being handled by the World Bank-funded a user fee to cover the cost of waste manage-
Kerala Solid Waste Management Project. Divya ment services, even though SWM rules mandate
S Iyer, the project director, says the work is likely a user charge.
to be completed by mid-next year, and the land
reclaimed from this exercise will be utilised for In June, the Delhi Municipal Corporation reversed
building “scientific waste management facilities.” its decision to combine a garbage fee with prop-
erty tax and made it optional. Residents’ groups
Additionally, three regional “scientifically engi- and local politicians opposed the fee of `50-200
neered” landfills across the state are being con- per month on residential properties and higher
sidered. Asked if this is a departure from the ex- for commercial establishments, demanding that
isting decentralised model, Iyer describes it as a a uniform, efficient, and segregated waste col-
“hybrid model.” lection system be put in place first.
“There will be separate parcels of land to be al- This is a chicken-and-egg situation, says a retired
located for these landfills, and they will be used MCD official. “To provide better services, we
only for inert objects, which don’t interact with need funds. Around `1,100-1,200 crore is spent
anything to become something else and are, annually on solid waste management, most of
therefore, not environmentally harmful. Also, the which goes into collection and transportation.”
landfills will be designed as per the World Bank Indore mayor Bhargav agrees: “Efficient waste
standards, which is extremely stringent, so there management requires innovation and technol-
is no contamination of soil, no leachate, and the ogy. We need resources to invest in those.” In-
air quality standards are sufficiently maintained.”
dore has made user charges mandatory. Each
For now, the state government is pleased with dwelling has been allotted an ID number, and
Kerala’s scores on the national sanitation index. residents can pay online or to the collection
A year ago, not a single urban local body from teams visiting homes. Residents who have dues
the state made it to the top 1,000. This year, cannot use the facilities offered by the corpora-
Kerala had 82, eight of which made it to the top tion.
100 ranking.
Moreover, people are fined regularly for using
To maintain cleaner public places, cities impose single-use plastic, littering, and spitting, with
fines of up to `5,000 for littering and `50,000 penalties ranging from `50 to `1 lakh. Bhargav
with possible imprisonment for violating waste feels it should not affect politicians adversely.
management rules. This year alone, `5.5 crore “One person who had been fined for violating
has been collected in fines, including the head- the rules would not vote for you, but many oth-
line-grabbing `25,000 fine on singer MG Sreeku- ers who see that their surroundings are clean
mar for dumping trash in Kochi backwaters. would.”
October 2025 PLASTICS NEWS 41
