Week-long waste segregation drive to sensitise capital residents

Bhubaneswar: Elected representatives are sensitising capital residents on the four-stream segregation of solid waste at source, as mandated by the new Solid Waste Management (SWM) Rules, 2026, and demonstrating the same in areas under Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC).

The ministry of housing and urban affairs (MoHUA) and MoEFCC have together drawn up the new rules. To ensure that citizens follow the new rules, a week-long sensitisation and ward-wise demonstration,from June 8 to 13, is taking place, BMC officials said.

“With new rules coming, every household is now expected to sort waste into four categories at source — wet, dry, sanitary, and special hazardous. In every ward, elected representatives are stepping out in lanes, society compounds, and slum clusters for demonstration. Vegetable peels, tea leaves, and leftover food will go into the wet stream. Paper, cartons, metal cans, and clean plastic will move to the dry stream. Used diapers, sanitary pads, and soiled tissues will be shown as sanitary waste, to be wrapped securely before being placed in the marked container. Batteries, bulbs, expired medicines, paint tins, and e-waste were explained as special hazardous — kept separate, stored safely, and handed only to authorised collection,” said BMC deputy commissioner (sanitation) N Ganesh Babu.

“BMC launched the week-long sensitisation and ward-wise demonstrations on June 8 to ensure that citizens understand the why and how. Volunteers stood beside collection vehicles at fixed hours, guiding residents who hesitated. Building entrances displayed simple segregation charts. In community halls, short sessions will be taught to families as to how home composting could turn wet waste into manure, reducing what went out of the door each morning,” Babu added.

General cleanliness drives are starting at dawn, with teams scrubbing public corners that have turned into garbage-vulnerable points. Barricades, signage and regular monitoring will follow so that same spots did not relapse into neglect, BMC officials said.

They said special advocacy drives will focus on high-footfall areas — markets, mandis, schools, local summer camps, bus stops and other strategic sites — involving residents’ welfare associations, NGOs, trained staff for door-to-door messaging, youth volunteer groups and self-help groups.

Across the week, ‘swachh aadat’ (cleanliness habit) will become a practical routine, until segregation feels less like an instruction and more like a shared civic habit.