Hey Mumbaikars! Now, a mobile app to sell your dry waste

Mumbaikars will soon be able to sell any kind of dry waste with the click of a button. In order to reduce the quantity of waste that is taken to the city's dumping grounds, the BMC is going to appoint three agencies in the next couple of months that will be responsible for purchasing and collecting dry waste and sell to recycling companies.

Vijay Singhal, additional municipal commissioner, said they had floated a global tender in November, which attracted seven bidders. They will present the proposals to the BMC before three are selected. "Currently, the city collects 300 tonnes of [segregated] dry waste. We are hoping that, in the coming months, the collection of [segregated] dry waste will increase to 700-800 tonnes, and a lesser quantity of waste will be sent to the dumping grounds," he said.

Based on the conditions mentioned in the tender, Kiran Dighavkar, assistant municipal commissioner of the Solid Waste Management department, said the plots will be handed over to three agencies for a period of 30 years. "Our aim is to create value for dry waste, which will encourage people to segregate. We are trying to create a circular economy and send as less amount of waste to the dumping grounds as possible," he said.

Dighavkar said the agencies have to compulsorily create a collection transportation in the form of a mobile application. "The agency will have to collect any kind of dry waste from a house that falls within its jurisdiction and they will pay people based on the weight of the waste collected. The BMC will regulate the price rates [per kg] based on the market rates," he said.

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