The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has started collecting biodegradable and non-biodegradable waste the same day, breaking from the schedule it had prepared after waste segregation was introduced in 2022.

Earlier, the KMC’s waste collectors used to pick up biodegradable (wet) waste every day and non-biodegradable (dry) waste on select days of the week.

The old schedule apparently created confusion among residents, many of whom ended up mixing the waste as they didn’t want to keep back the non-biodegradable waste for another day, said a senior official of the civic body.

“There were some problems when we were picking up non-biodegradable waste on select days in a week. Our waste collectors found that many people who had kept the waste separately at home ended up throwing all of that into the cart meant only for non-biodegradable waste,” said the official. “Most people were not keen to hold back the dry waste for one or two days at home. They threw everything into one cart.”

The volume of non-biodegradable waste being collected is still very low and when a separate cart went to collect this waste on the designated days, it did not fill up with the waste, said the official.

“Sending a cart only for collecting non-biodegradable waste did not amount to optimal utilisation of resources because the cart often did not fill up. So, we decided that all carts will have four buckets for biodegradable waste and two buckets for non-biodegradable waste. Both types of waste are being collected every day,” said the KMC official.

The green bins are meant for biodegradable waste like kitchen waste, cooked food, fruit and vegetable peels, soiled paper, meat and bones.

The blue bins are for non-biodegradable waste such as paper, plastic cups, glass, metal books, leather, cloth rags and wires.

The KMC started collecting segregated waste across the city from December 1, 2022. Earlier, the civic body used to collect segregated waste from select wards.

KMC sources said they had been able to achieve about 50 per cent segregation till now. “In the 18 months since waste segregation at source was launched across the city, we have been able to achieve about 50 per cent segregation. Many households are still not segregating the waste. We have to keep pushing so that the extent of segregation increases,” the official said.

About 4,500 tonnes of solid waste is generated in the city every day, said a KMC official, but less than half of it is sorted and processed for reuse as raw materials in the recycling industry.