In a bid to strengthen the urban waste management practices in the State, Bureau of Indian Standards, Chennai, has been holding meetings with government departments and municipal corporations on the implementation of its solid waste management guidelines, particularly at commercial facilities.

Following a recent meeting with the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC), the BIS technical committee is considering incorporating the civic body’s suggestions into the standard offered as guidelines.

The BIS also plans to approach municipal corporations in other cities to spread awareness on the ‘Solid Waste Management — Segregation, Collection and Utilisation at Commercial Facilities (Shops, Markets, Malls etc.) —Guidelines’.

Officials of the BIS noted that meetings and sensitisation programmes were being organised to provide various local bodies an understanding of their responsibilities in handling different types of waste. It mainly focuses on aspects of source segregation, collection, and processing of waste at commercial establishments.

The guidelines specified in detail the methods to store various types of waste, be it dry waste or hazardous waste, and collect and transport segregated waste. The BIS, which aligns with Solid Waste Management (SWM) Rules, 2016, can be used as a tool to manage solid waste, they said.

The standard would have details on various aspects, including fixed intervals of transporting segregated waste, recommended size and type of storage bins, and treatment methods at commercial level.

G. Bhavani, Head, BIS, Chennai, said the SWM guidelines also had an indicative list of biomedical and commercial hazardous waste, and instructions on waste recycling and safe disposal of non-industrial hazardous waste.

“GCC is now following most of the prescribed guidelines. We are considering incorporating its suggestions to revise the guidelines. The GCC had suggested that hospital waste be included in the standard or to formulate a separate one. Batteries must be classified under the hazardous materials category,” she said.

The standard must also address the handling and disposal of festival waste such as fire crackers, and differentiate waste management requirements for small and larger commercial establishments, as several of them are in residential areas. The suggestions included a separate standard for reducing waste generation.

BIS would also approach district-level government officials to implement the standard, and sensitise gram sabhas on the guidelines. Awareness would be raised on another standard on the collection and disposal of residential waste, she added.