Solid Waste Management

Brief Profile of Waste Management in Gandhinagar and Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation

Gandhinagar is the capital of the state of Gujarat is located approximately 23 km North of Ahmedabad, on right bank of the Sabarmati River. Gandhinagar is known as one of the green, optimally-planned and sustainable cities in the world. Gandhinagar is also known as “India’s Tree Capital” because of the tree cover in the city and “City of Knowledge”, as it houses many academic institutions such as IIT Gandhinagar, NID, NIFT, DAIICT, PDPU, GNLU etc.

Gujarat, post its formation as a state in 1960, envisaged to establish a new and modern Capital city of the state in a planned manner with optimum infrastructure facilities. The State Government acquired land covering an area of 57sq.km and named the city as Gandhinagar, in the memory of the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi. The city was planned by Mr. H.K. Mewada and Mr. Prakash M Apte. It’s planning is laid out on a strong, symmetrical grid, characterized by broad Town Roads, vast open spaces, and is divided into rectangular “sectors”. Town Roads divide Gandhinagar into 30 sectors, most of which are 1000 m × 750 m in size and 75 ha in area.

Gandhinagar city was formed on March 16^th, 1960 and was notified as the Capital City of Gujarat on July 30^th,  1970 . Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation was formed on March 16^th, 2010 in compliance to the Hon’ble High court of Gujarat.

Solid waste management in Gandhinagar

One of the primary responsibilities of Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation is Public Cleanliness and Scientific Management of Solid Waste Management as per the MSW Rules 2016. Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation is certified with 3 star Garbage Free City (GFC) rating on 19-05-2020. Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation also secured 22^nd rank in Swachh Survekshan 2019, an annual assessment of cleanliness, hygiene and sanitation in cities and towns across India covering more than 4370+ cities

Solid waste management in Gandhinagar city is managed by the Sanitation and Environment departments of GMC. The objectives of the solid waste management department include:

• Collection of waste– 100% household level coverage of SWM services through door-to-door collection of waste with 100% segregation at source
• Processing of waste – 100% scientific processing of all the waste collected as per SWM Rules 2016
• Cleaning of Public Areas– All wards are Clean and well maintained in Gandhinagar city, with twice a day sweeping in all commercial and public areas, once a day sweeping in all residential areas, transformation of Garbage Vulnerable Points(GVP),) and zero secondary storage bins
• Plastic waste management –Enforcement of ban on the use, sale and storage of nonbiodegradable plastic bags/ plastic products
• Encourage citizens and establishments to reduce the generation of waste by following 3R principles (Reduce – Reuse – Recycle)
• To ensure safe disposal of waste including bio-medical waste, C & D Waste, E-Waste and other hazardous waste

SWM Practice in Gandhinagar

Almost, 95 Metric Tons of solid waste (including 10 tons of C&D waste) is generated from the city on a daily basis. This waste is collected, transported, treated and disposed according to the SWM Rules 2016.

Collection and transportation of waste

• Door to Door waste collection of MSW has started since 2013 in Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation area. GMC started collecting the waste from all the residential, commercial, institutional and public areas. All vehicles have provision for separate compartments in collection vehicles for dry waste, wet waste and hazardous waste
• The project successfully covers 100% of all residential & commercial units, on all 365 days of the year. More than 50 Vehicles have been deployed for the collection of solid waste from GMC area.
• The waste collected in this manner is transported to the processing plants through Refuse Transfer Stations.
• All collection & transportation vehicles are tagged with Radio Frequency Identification Tag and can be monitored through the GPS system.

Solid Waste Processing

• A Total of 95 TPD waste is generated in the city which includes wet waste (43 TPD), dry waste (32 TPD), C&D waste (10 TPD) and waste from road sweeping activity (10 TPD).
• Wet waste is processed through decentralised treatment facilities like vermicomposting,  Organic Waste Composting machines, Biomethanation plant, and windrow composting.
• GMC has 3 Material Recovery Facilities (MRF) for sorting and segregation of Dry waste
• GMC has appointed M/s Eco-vision on PPP basis for collection, transportation and processing of plastic waste generated in the city.
• GMC also has made a Concession Agreement with M/s Gandhinagar Waste fuels Limited for the development and operation of Waste to Wealth plant of 100 TPD capacity.

Other Activities:

1. Dumpsite remediation project – It is estimated that around 85,000 MT of legacy waste is lying at the SWM dumpsite located at Sector 30, Gandhinagar. GMC has started the work for remediation of the legacy waste in compliance with SWM Rules 2016 and NGT orders. Trommels are being used to process and remediate the legacy waste.
2. Public health bylaws and plastic waste management waste bylaws– GMC has notified public health bylaws and plastic waste management bylaws for effective enforcement and maintaining discipline towards better practice of sanitation and waste management.
3. Information, Education and Communication (IEC) activities for Awareness among the Citizen of Gandhinagar  – GMC has initiated various IEC activities for generating awareness among the general public towards cleanliness, waste segregation, home compositing, 3R Principles, waste treatment & waste disposal.