PCMC asks industrial units to segregate waste into hazardous and non-hazardous

“At a meeting held with industry representatives earlier this week, we told them that each and every industrial unit should daily segregate their industrial waste into hazardous and non-hazardous ones. While PCMC will be collecting non-hazardous waste, the industries will have to ensure that the hazardous waste is disposed of at the private processing facility available in Ranjangaon area,” PCMC Assistant Municipal Commissioner Ajay Charthankar told The Indian Express Saturday.

The Pimpri-Chinchwad-Bhosari MIDC area has between 5,000-10,000 small, medium and large industrial units. The area generates 35 tonne waste daily.

The PCMC administration said that the hazardous waste is often dumped on roads, nullahs and other open spaces which is detrimental to the environment and thereby to public health.

“When an industrial unit wants to set up shops in the MIDC area, it has to declare to the MPCB (Maharashtra Pollution Control Board) about the kind of industrial discharge they will be making. They have to specify details about their hazardous and non-hazardous waste. They are not supposed to mix both hazardous and non-hazardous waste. They are supposed to send the hazardous waste to Ranjangaon where a facility for processing of hazardous waste has been set up. Similarly, the industrial units have to hand over their non-hazardous waste for recycling purposes,” Charthankar said.

Stating that it was not in the mandate of the PCMC to create a facility for disposal of industrial waste, Charthankar said, “The MIDC is supposed to set up facilities for disposal of industrial waste. However, they have not set up any such facility. One such facility is the Material Recovery Facility or MRF. This facility recovers useful material while scientifically disposing of the waste.”

As a result, Charthankar said, the PCMC had to collect the waste from the industries. “But it is noticed that the industries are mixing hazardous waste with non-hazardous waste which we were carrying to our Moshi garbage dump. The inflammatory material from the industrial waste was leading to fire at the garbage dump. Also, it was found that either some hazardous waste was dumped on the roads or was stored for a longer period in their company premises which is another dangerous thing from the point of causing a fire,” he said.

At the meeting with the representatives of small scale industries and Mahratta Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture (MCCIA), it was agreed that the PCMC will be collecting the non-hazardous waste and the industries will take the responsibility of disposing of their hazardous waste to Ranjangaon facility. “While it is observed that large industrial units were disposing of their hazardous waste to Ranjangaon facility, the small scale units were finding it difficult to dispose of their hazardous waste regularly as they couldn’t afford it. In this case, we decided to step up and make arrangements for taking the hazardous waste to the Ranjangaon facility,” Charthankar said.

Though the industrial units have welcomed PCMC’s initiative to collect their non-hazardous waste, they have raised objections to extra charges that will be levied by the PCMC.

Abhay Bhor, president of Forum for Small Scale Industries Association, said, “For more than 50 years, the industrial units have been paying crores of rupees to the PCMC by way of various taxes. In contrast, PCMC has provided hardly any facilities to the industrial units. We don’t have good roads, better drainage systems, proper street lights, toilet facilities and security systems. While we welcome their move on waste collection, we do not understand PCMC’s idea of collecting additional charges from us on this count.”

Sandeep Belsare, president, Pimpri-Chinchwad Small Scale Industries Association said, “We are not opposing PCMC’s decision on collecting non-hazardous industrial waste, but we are against the extra charges that PCMC plans to collect from us. Over the years, PCMC has neither taken any initiative to set up a Central Effluent Treatment Plant nor a Sewage Treatment Plan for the industries. The roads are always in a bad shape, toilets especially for women are missing, and theft of industrial products are common. We are facing hordes of problems. The PCMC only collects crores of rupees in taxes from us but has never cared for us. They should provide this hazardous waste collection service without burdening us.”

Charthankar said they have not yet worked out the charges to be levied for collecting the 35 tonne waste from the industries. “The industries will not have to pay every month. They can pay after every two months. The charges will be added to their property taxes. We will be finalising the charges by next week,” he said.

Charthankar said nine vehicles of the PCMC will be moving through the length and breadth of the Pimpri-Chinchwad-Bhosari MIDC area to collect the non-hazardous waste. “We will be notifying the point at which the vehicles will be collecting the waste,” he said.