Howrah expands waste segregation to 14 more wards, remaining to happen in four months
Telegraph | 3 April 2025
Waste segregation was launched in 14 wards of the Howrah Municipal Corporation on Tuesday, adding to the existing 11 wards where segregation had started in mid-2022.
The Howrah Municipal Corporation (HMC) has 50 wards under it, and “waste segregation at source” takes place in 25 wards, including the 14 where it was launched on Tuesday.
An official said they planned to start waste segregation in the remaining 25 wards in the next four months.
The move comes within a fortnight of a landslide at the hillocks of solid waste in the waste disposal ground of Howrah. The hillocks were 45-metre tall, nearly double of what they should have been, experts have said.
The 14 wards where waste segregation at source started on Tuesday are 2,3,4,5,10,21,23, 25,27,28,32,34,37 and 38.
It was launched in 11 other wards in August 2022.
“We have been late in introducing waste segregation in these 14 wards. Some issues had to be resolved before we could expand the segregation,” said an HMC official.
Waste disposal has been an issue in Howrah for months.
Residents have often complained about garbage not being cleared from vats for days.
“Before Tuesday, there was no door-to-door collection except in the 11 wards. From Tuesday, we could start door-to-door waste collection in 14 more wards,” said the official.
The entire segregated waste, which will be about half of Howrah’s daily solid waste generation, will be transported to the Dhapa waste disposal ground in Calcutta.
Waste dumping at Howrah’s Belgachhia has been stopped since the landslide about two weeks back.
In the remaining 25 wards where segregation at source is yet to start, residents dump the waste at select points in their neighbourhood. It is cleared once or twice daily.
“In case it is not cleared one day, the waste piles up and spills over. The door-to-door collection will stop the habit of dumping waste on the road. We have plans to start waste segregation in the remaining 25 wards within the next four months,” said the official.
The HMC has assigned a team of two persons for every 200 households. One of them is pulling the garbage cart while the other is collecting the waste in separate bins.
A third member, mostly a woman, will be going with the teams for the first few months.
“She is announcing in a loudhailer how waste can be segregated at home and then handed over to the waste cart. This is part of an awareness campaign,” said the official.
The work for enumeration of households and shops in the remaining 25 wards will start soon.
“Our challenge is the added area — wards 45 to 50. They are very large wards, covering nearly one-third of HMC’s total 50 square km area. Once the enumeration is over, we will move one step towards starting segregation in the remaining 25 wards,” said the official.