All housing complexes in the city have to segregate waste at source or pay a fine, says solid waste management bye-laws for Calcutta that the state government notified last month.

The bye-laws also make it compulsory for anyone organising a gathering of 100 or more people in an “unlicensed place”, which can be a house or a ground in the locality, to inform the Calcutta Municipal Corporation about the event. Community halls are not on the list of “unlicensed” places.

The organisers of such events must ensure that waste is segregated before it is handed over to municipal solid waste cleaners.

The residents’ welfare associations of housing complexes, with help from the CMC, have to create a mechanism for waste segregation, a civic official said. The civic body will implement the bye-laws.

“All resident welfare and market associations shall, in partnership with KMC, ensure segregation of waste at source by the generators, facilitate collection of segregated waste in separate streams, handover recyclable material to either the authorised waste pickers or the authorised recyclers,” says Chapter III of the bye-laws.

The waste has to be segregated into three categories and put in different bins -- biodegradable or wet waste in green bins, non-biodegradable or dry waste in blue bins and domestic hazardous waste in black bins.

A housing complex that does not segregate waste will be fined Rs 300 the first time, Rs 500 the second time and Rs 700 for every subsequent violation. “We will not fine a complex without giving it the time and opportunity to introduce the segregation culture,” a CMC official said.

Any individual who holds a gathering of 100 or more people and does not segregate waste will be fined Rs 200 the first time, Rs 300 the second time and Rs 400 for every subsequent violation.

Biodegradable waste will be collected by CMC teams every morning. “Agencies empanelled with the state pollution control board will collect domestic hazardous waste and non-biodegradable waste. We will provide contact details of the agencies to the residents’ welfare associations,” the official said.

“Only a handful of complexes segregate waste. The rest dump all kinds of waste together,” the official said.