Our Reporter
Dimapur, March 10 (EMN): The state government enacted Nagaland Integrated
Waste Management Policy 2019 in the month of February last year and although it
has completed one year, without the active participation of the citizens, waste
management continues to be a difficult task.
Civic sense is one of the most important factors involved in waste management, and the Dimapur Municipal Council (DMC) has been playing its part to inculcate it among the citizens through community participation.
Speaking to Eastern Mirror, the administrator of DMC, Albert Ezung said that their primary objective is to promote civic sense. This is the main challenge they are facing and when it is achieved, everything will be easier to implement, he said.
Ezung informed that waste management by different colonies is improving and people are more aware of their responsibility. Maintaining commercial areas, however, is very difficult, he said adding that they are constantly urging traders to use dustbins.
"But again in the marketplace, the main culprit is the pedestrians and shoppers as they just throw everything on the street in spite of the dustbin being installed," he stated.
When asked about waste segregation, Ezung informed that to segregate waste materials at the dumping site is very difficult, as on average, the DMC collects 115 metric tonnes of garbage daily.
The amount of legacy waste accumulated in a day is approximately 50 lakh metric tonnes. He said that it becomes a huge task for the workers to segregate it.
In order to combat this problem, the DMC had launched a project called ‘garbage to gold’ in collaboration with Pro Rural NGO in 2018. He informed that it is yielding positive result but this project is only limited to those households with a compound and added, "Even though it is not satisfactory, at least something is better than nothing."
Ezung informed that the treatment plan of waste material at the dumping site has not been activated. He said: "If it was done earlier, one after another, follow-up action could be done; and without a treatment plan, whatever they do, it will not work."
When asked about the implementation of ‘bioremediation’ at the dumping site, he said that it is yielding ‘a very positive result and even the foul smell is under control’. Further, he explained that after the bioremediation process, the treated or stabilised waste is segregated through biomining machine, which has been installed at the dumping site.
However, the quantity of legacy waste is huge as it is a 28-year-old dumping site and 115 tonnes of waste is being collected daily. As a result, the present biomining machine output is very low compared to the amount of waste collected, he said and added that they are exploring alternative avenues to install bigger biomining machine for more output capacity.
Ezung also informed that bailing machine and material recovery facility has been set up near the dumping site. It will start functioning very soon and it will help reduce the workload of the waste management process, he added.
When asked about the space constraint at the dumping site, Ezung said, "Right now, space constraint has no issue, since bioremediation and biomining and all the activities that are done for waste management, it will definitively help reduce the compiled waste at the dumpsite."
The administrator also explained that the treated waste can be used for manure and the remaining waste materials that take time to decompose are segregated and used for other commercial values. He added that it would definitely help generate revenue if everything is set properly.
The DMC collects garbage from the main streets as well as commercial areas starting 4.30 am daily, and on alternate days in the colonies. He informed that around 80 to 90 workers have been employed for sanitary work, which covers 96 colonies as well as market areas. He added that the manpower was not enough.
"The main responsibility of DMC is sanitation and they are doing their best," he said and added that "people should not depend on DMC for everything but should have civic sense and avoid dumping waste into the sewage as in some case even the sanitary workers are unable to clean the sewage”.
He also requested the colonies and village authorities to maintain their colony sewage areas so that it won’t clog during the rainy season.
When asked about the medical waste management, he informed that medical waste is not allowed at the common dumping site, but DMC has provided a designated place within the dumpsite areas for dumping medical waste. He stated that it’s the responsibility of the hospital to maintain medical waste."They have to dig a trench and dispose of the medical waste," he said.
Ezung added that a proposal for setting up a common bio-medical waste facility is in the process and that they have already identified the area as well.