The Municipal Corporation of Haldwani (MCH) has become the first civic body in the Himalayan State to use Portugal-imported underground dustbins for disposal of civic wastes from the city in a proper and scientific manner.
The MCH has introduced this new garbage disposal mechanism in the city under its civic waste management programme. Initially, as many as six such underground dustbins are being deployed in critical areas across the city for smooth and proper disposal of civic wastes, said Jogendra Singh Rautela, Mayor of Municipal
Corporation of Haldwani. The underground dustbins have been imported from Portugal. The total cost for these six Portugal-imported underground dustbins is Rs 59 lakh, added the Mayor. Each such underground dustbin can contain three cubic meter civic wastes and the same civic wastes would be disposed off to the garbage disposal site with the help of hydraulic machine, Rautela further said. Notably, for the commercial capital of Kumaon division, Haldwani, that produces over 60 tonnes of civic wastes — both biodegradable and non-biodegradable- every day, proper disposal of the same is an imperative.
Coinciding with the ongoing Clean India Campaign launched by the Government of India across the country with an approach of community participation, introduction of the State of the art garbage disposal underground dustbins may come in handy for the MCH to maintain cleanliness of city like Haldwani. To facilitate the scientific way of garbage disposal, the department concerned has already initiated door- to- door garbage collection exercise in which biodegradable and non-biodegradable garbage is separated at the source level.
However, the environmentalists and experts here have also called for complete ban on the use of polythene bags. The matter of concern is that despite repeated orders issued by the Government from time to time on the matter, the use of polythene bags continues unabated. Therefore, community participation is vital in carrying out the cleanliness drive with proper and scientific disposal of the civic wastes with total ban on the use of polythenes, maintained the experts here. Otherwise, the efforts taken to maintain cleanliness will not be fully productive, they further said.