Food delivery, e-commerce spike Panaji’s daily garbage by 1,500kg

Panaji: The state capital is drowning in its own waste, with Panaji going from generating 52,500kg of waste every day in 2024 to 54,000kg per day this year. Of this waste pile, 33,000kg is wet waste, while 21,000kg is dry waste. This alarming increase of 1,500kg per day translates to an annual surge of 5,48,000kg, according to a CCP official.

The reason? A shift in lifestyle habits, a surge in e-commerce shopping, and the relentless rise of food delivery apps. “All the food packets and boxes which get delivered to the doorstep, and have made our lives convenient, are adding to the waste count in the city,” said a senior CCP official.

Tourism, once a seasonal boon, has become a year-round bane, exacerbating the waste problem.

“The tourists are coming to the state all year round now, and this leads to a rise in consumption. The more the consumption, the higher the waste,” the CCP official said.

Despite the 16-way waste segregation system being introduced in Panaji colonies, the official said the city is facing challenges in sorting garbage. This segregation programme was introduced in 2022, with the aim of segregating solid waste into 16 components—paper, cardboard, batteries, medicines, glass, sharps, metal, ceramic, e-waste, cloth, soft plastics, PET and hard plastic, infectious biomedical waste, tubes, bulbs, and coconut shells.

The Bainguinim waste management plant, which was handed over to the Goa Waste Management Corporation in 2017, is yet to be developed, citing pending clearances and approvals from state govt. “We are still getting in the practice of segregating the waste before we dump it,” he said.

The city has a decentralised waste management system. The wet waste is treated in compost stations and bio digesters, and produces biogas, liquid fertiliser, and sludge material as the output. The dry waste is treated in sorting stations and material recovery facilities.

The CCP has been making efforts in raising awareness on waste management and ways of reducing waste as individuals and households in schools and higher education institutions. “The prime focus is segregating the waste. Without segregating the waste, we cannot treat it,” said the official.