Lack of infra for solid waste management key concern among citizens, shows BMC public consultation
Key concerns raised by citizens included a lack of infrastructure for waste segregation, irregular garbage collection, insufficient bins, and challenges in high-density settlements. Respondents also flagged underutilised composting systems and demanded decentralised alternatives such as micro-composters.
While the BMC recently announced its move to defer the implementation of a user fee for the collection of solid waste, feedback on user fee was sought under the process, and mixed responses were received: 49% supported it, while 43% opposed it, citing fairness and confusion.
As for fines in cases like littering or urinating in public spaces, 52% felt these would improve civic behaviour, but 66% wanted these implemented only after toilets and bins were in place. Only 39% of citizens found daily waste segregation practical.
Mumbai generates 8,000 tonnes of solid waste daily, a majority of which ends up at the Kanjurmarg dumping ground and a smaller portion at the Deonar landfill.
The draft bye-laws, proposed to replace the ones from 2006, were uploaded on the BMC website on April 1.
Citizens were able to review the draft and submit their suggestions or objections until May 31 via email or several other means.
At 2,418, most responses came via a WhatsApp chatbot, with the remainder through emails, town halls and field interviews.
Deputy municipal commissioner for solid waste management Kiran Dighavkar said Civis was appointed specifically for gathering feedback from all sectors of society, from slums to formal housing.
"We are looking at finalising the bye-laws in a month," he said.
Civis, a non-profit that partners with govts to enable informed public participation in policymaking, is the BMC's official consultation partner for the initiative. It developed a WhatsApp chatbot that allows citizens to understand the solid waste draft in minutes and share their suggestions with the BMC.
Civic officials pointed out that many citizens focused on everyday sanitation and waste segregation, but certain topics — such as construction and demolition waste, disaster-time waste handling, biomedical waste segregation, and extended producer responsibility (EPR) compliance — saw limited engagement.
Several suggestions received strong public support, including multilingual IEC (information, education, and communication) campaigns for community engagement, school-based civic education, and the appointment of local waste ambassadors. Other suggestions included the introduction of night-time waste collection shifts for markets and arterial roads, replacement of cash fines with QR code-based challans, creation of public dashboards to track ward-wise performance on sanitation, fines and compliance, and the development of pilot zones with strict enforcement and reward systems to create replicable "clean ward" models.
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