Mumbai generates 15-20% more festival waste

Diwali festivals come in with a lot of preparations, starting from cleaning up the house as per the tradition. This leads to the accumulation of waste in the city. The daily waste generated in the city during the Diwali celebration has increased by 15-20%.

More than 1,300MT of additional waste was collected on the first day of the festival.

The waste generation in the city reduced by 3,000-4,000MT since 2017. At present, the city on average generates around 6,200- 6,300MT of waste daily.

The daily collection of waste increased by 400-1,320MT from October 21 to 26. On the three days of Diwali, the city generated an average of 7,200 metric tonnes of waste.

"Days before Diwali, people clean their house and usually throw away old stuff like shoes, clothes and old furniture. So we can see an increase in the daily waste in this period. If the segregated dry waste is of any use, it can be given to needy people from remote areas. Some of the wards had also initiated a campaign called 'Swachhta Rath' during Diwali. In this campaign the vehicles of the Solid Waste Management (SWM) department visit the wards and collect discarded items," said a civic official of the department.

"A large number of firecrackers are also burnt in the city during Diwali week. But such waste is minimal in number so it doesn't need to be dumped separately," he added. Around 5,500MT of waste is sent to the processing plant at Kanjurmarg, while the rest is dumped at Deonar dumping ground.