Margao municipality refuses to pick up unsegregated hotel waste

MARGAO: Stepping up its efforts towards ensuring segregation of waste at source, the Margao Municipal Council (MMC) on Tuesday conducted surprise inspections at more than 15 city hotels while the waste was being lifted by the municipality’s garbage compactors.


MMC chief officer Siddhivinayak Naik led the inspection team comprising senior municipal officials.

Naik told reporters after the inspection that most hotels and restaurants were found giving mixed waste to MMC vehicles.

“The hotels were told in no uncertain terms that mixed garbage will not be collected. Garbage from these hotels was not lifted as punitive action,” Naik said.

Stating that the municipality’s drive would continue, Naik said that hotels and restaurants were warned of severe action, including sealing of premises, if they continue to give unsegregated waste to the municipal workers.

The MMC collects dry waste from hotels and restaurants on Tuesdays and Fridays while wet waste is collected everyday.

Sources said that MMC has already issued notices to bulk waste generators—those producing more than 100kg of daily waste—to make arrangements to have their own waste composting facility.

Savio Coutinho of the Shadow Council of Margao pointed out that over five tonnes of the total waste that lands at the waste treatment plant at Sonsoddo comes from the city’s hotels and restaurants.

“If this waste is collected in a segregated manner, it will immensely contribute to better waste management at Sonsoddo,” he said.

Coutinho said that while the MMC collects waste from all hotels and restaurants, many such units have remained out of the MMC’s tax assessment ambit.

He demanded that all such hotels and restaurants be brought under the tax bracket.