Deonar fire: Here's how waste from home becomes hazard

At a waste segregation centre in Bhimwadi Chembur run by the BMC and NGO Stree Mukti Sanghatana Rajesh Rajbhar the acting incharge for the day educates us on scrap terminologies Pointing to a sack full of used plastic water bottles he says ldquoThatrsquos called teri in the scrap market at Mandala in Chembur Eastrdquo Then he draws our attention to soft plastics the kind used in food packaging ldquoThatrsquos fuga It fetches a good pricerdquo Milk bags are called panni oilcans are jhaap brown cardboard is putta and shoe soles are called well solesSorters use a beller machine to compress paper and plastic waste into bricks which will be sent to recycling units PicSayyed Sameer AbediThe segregation centre is a small structure sitting on barren land called Helipad Ground offset by shanties in the backdrop The ground got its rather unusual moniker after a helicopter flying a former Indian President landed there says a localOf the 10500 metric tonnes of garbage generated in Mumbai every day only 1200 metric tonnes is segregated at source The rest is sent to three dumping grounds unsegregated to the delight of local ragpickers SUNDAY middayrsquos visit to four of the 34 segregation centres mdash Chembur Govandi Worli and Dharavi mdash traces the journey of a trash from home to dumpyardBurning dumpA fire broke out at the 120hectare Deonar dumping ground on January 27 leading to a blanket of smoke over parts of the eastern suburbs the island city and Navi Mumbai Firefighting was underway even on Saturday The fire had a crucial lesson for Mumbaikars mdash segregate or perish mdash since it was dry trash that had caught fire that fateful dayAround 3000 MT of waste is sent to Deonar 3000 MT to Kanjurmarg and the rest to Mulund The High Court has repeatedly directed the BMC to close Mulund and Deonar dumping grounds since they had exceeded their capacity The BMC had declared that it would undertake scientific disposal of waste at both and eventually shut them down The contracts are yet to be reinvited Besides a biomethanization project a waste to energy project was also announced but neither have seen the light of the daySeveral of the 34 dry waste centres are run by NGOs such as Stree Mukti Sanghatana on noprofit noloss basis They employ local men and women who segregate and send solid waste for recycling and are paid daily wages or a monthly salaryldquoThe problem is that people donrsquot segregate at source No matter what measures we take it is a mammoth job to manage unsegregated wasterdquo said outgoing solid waste management chief Prakash PatilHowever Dr Sandip Rane an activist who has been pursuing the Deonar dumping ground matter with the BMC for decades said ldquoBMC needs a lesson or two There is rampant corruption in every department of the civic body They are not serious about solving the problem of solid wasterdquoRagpicker diaryAbout six workers of the Sanghatana were at Deonar when SUNDAY midday paid a visit A total of 12 members of the NGO segregate three trucks full of dry waste here every dayAkeel Khan one of the segregators is from UPrsquos Sultanpur village He said ldquoI have been working here for five years It is steady money None of us think of smuggling out of the waste because we will lose our jobs All the solid waste of the area is brought here Wet waste goes to DeonarrdquoKhan works from 7 am to 6 pm and is paid R10000 per month He lives eats and sleeps on the site like many others He goes about without gloves masks or any protective gear Several workers suffer cuts and burns while on the job They have to bear the medical costs themselves ldquoIt is a lot of hard work But we are not educated what else can we dordquo said Munni Khan another ragpickerOver at Worli the BMCrsquos office has a glassfaccedilade building One can barely imagine that about 1500 kgs of waste is brought in the space behind it every day The dry waste segregation here is done by an NGO called Force while wet is segregated by an NGO called KalpanaRiyaz Ahmed works for the former He says he can sift through five sacks of dry waste in 1520 minutes The thick plastic objects are the most profitable ones They can be sold for Rs 25 per kg but are rare While the paper and cardboard from here goes to Andheri plastic goes to Do Taaki a scrap centre near Chor BazaarEwaste catchAt the Bhimwadi segregation unit ewaste is a special delivery On Friday computer parts from Guru Nanak College SIES College both in Sion and Indian Association for Promotion of Adoption of Child Welfare have arrived Rashmi Joshi the ewaste coordinator from Sanghatana thinks it has been a good catch ldquoThese parts will be taken to Eco Friend Industries where a systematic dismantling of parts is done Plastics wires and metals are removed separately Hazardous chemicals are naturalised and effluents are released into the seardquo she saysA dayrsquos ewaste collection amounts to one tonne here Stumbling on waste strewn about Joshi says they try to make maximum use of every piece of dry waste From PET bottles for instance the caps the bottle and the wrapper around it are separated and each is sent to different recycling units ldquoBut we have to wait till we reach at least 500 kg of each material Which is why these piles are lying around hererdquo she explainsWaste economicsThe Sanghatana runs seven segregation sites across Mumbai including Churchgate The one at Bhimwadi caters to MWest Ward Chembur West and has tied up with recycling firms and consultants to achieve an ecosystem of sorts ldquoThe BMC is overburdened We want to give them a helping handrdquo says Joshi Looking at the 10 people working at the segregation centre sifting through dry waste generated by more than 4 lakh people in Chembur West the imbalance is selfevident You do the math