MARGAO
The supply of mixed municipal waste to the 10 tonnes-per-day (TPD) gasification plant at Sonsodo has raised serious concerns over the effectiveness of the Margao Municipal Council’s (MMC) waste management system, particularly at a time when the civic body spends around Rs 6.5 crore annually on door-to-door waste collection.
The development has thrown up two crucial questions for the Municipality. First, whether waste segregation by collection agencies have been effectively implemented despite the substantial annual expenditure on waste collection. Second, and more importantly, whether the civic body has fully enforced the mandatory four-way segregation of waste at source into wet, dry, sanitary and special care waste as required under the Solid Waste Management framework.
The issue has also brought into focus the role of the district administration in ensuring compliance with waste management laws. Questions are being raised over whether the South Goa District Collector has issued binding directions under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, to enforce the Solid Waste Management Rules and ensure strict adherence by the local body.
The concern stems from the nature of the ash generated by the gasification plant at Sonsodo, which indicates that mixed waste is being fed into the facility. Officials familiar with the functioning of the plant said the ash contains remnants that should not have reached the gasifier had proper segregation been carried out before processing.
The finding assumes significance because the MMC has already entrusted two private waste collection agencies with the responsibility of ensuring that mixed waste handed over by households is segregated before being transported by municipal vehicles to the Sonsodo treatment facility.
Officials in the know maintained that waste collectors do undertake segregation after collecting garbage from households. However, they admitted that the existing mechanism is far from foolproof and that mixed waste continues to slip through the system before reaching the treatment site.
A senior MMC official acknowledged that the contractual terms governing the two waste collection agencies clearly require their workers to segregate mixed waste before it is sent for treatment. “The agencies have been specifically instructed that waste collected from households must be segregated before transportation. The responsibility is clearly defined,” the official said.
Margao Municipal Administrator Srinet Kothwale admitted that portions of mixed waste are indeed reaching the Sonsodo facility, a fact reflected in the ash generated by the gasification plant.
“The civic body will have to intensify efforts to educate households and commercial establishments to hand over only segregated waste to the waste collectors. Public participation is essential for the system to function effectively,” Kothwale said.
MMC faces uphill task on four-way segregation
MARGAO: The Margao Municipal Council (MMC) may soon have to grapple with a million-dollar question: How to effectively implement the segregation of municipal waste into four categories — wet, dry, sanitary and special care waste — as mandated under the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2026.
A couple of months ago, a consultant appointed by the Goa State Urban Development Agency (GSUDA) conducted a PowerPoint presentation for MMC employees on the procedures for handling and managing waste under the new four-stream segregation system.
The exercise assumes significance against the backdrop of the civic body’s earlier attempt, more than a decade ago, to introduce waste segregation at source. At the time, the MMC had distributed two sets of bins free of cost to thousands of households to facilitate segregation of wet and dry waste.
More than ten years later, however, the same question continues to confront the civic body: Has segregation of waste at source, now expanded under the new Solid Waste Management Rules, 2026, been effectively implemented?
MMC Administrator Srinet Kothwale said the Goa State Pollution Control Board is examining the issue of segregation at source. He added that the civic body would implement the directions issued with regard to waste collection.
Sources, however, maintained that the MMC had failed to sustain the collection of segregated wet and dry waste from households despite distributing thousands of bins free of cost.
A senior MMC official, speaking on condition of anonymity, admitted that the initiative had struggled from the very beginning due to poor public participation.
“Waste segregation failed to take off from day one because of the lack of cooperation from households. This forced the civic body to shift the responsibility of segregation from residents to the waste collectors. It remains to be seen whether the implementation of the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2026, will bring about any meaningful change on the ground,” the official said.
