BMC gets 30 new mini garbage vehicles with double the transportation capacity News Air Insight

MUMBAI: The city’s familiar green compact garbage trucks will soon be replaced with new white-and-blue models, said deputy municipal commissioner (Solid Waste Management) Kiran Dighavkar on Friday. As part of this upgrade, the city will also add 30 new mini compactor vehicles, of which 17 were inducted into the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) fleet on November 29. The remaining 13 are expected within a week.

Each new vehicle can carry five tonnes of waste, double the capacity of the BMC’s current mini compactor garbage trucks. At present, the city generates nearly 7,000 tonnes of garbage daily, which is ferried to the Kanjurmarg and Deonar dumping grounds using 219 BMC-owned vehicles and 1,264 contractor-operated vehicles.

In the coming year, around 1,080 of the new mini compactors, each costing ₹45.7 lakh, will be introduced in phases to replace the civic body’s old vehicles. “Our contractors have also been asked to get compactors of this same model and paint them the same colour,” Dighavkar said.

The upgraded compactors include improved hydraulic doors which will ensure that the rear of the vehicle is completely shut as it moves. This will prevent the spread of a garbage stench or leakage of liquid waste onto streets. They will also feature a 5 mm Hardox steel flooring to prevent liquid waste from spoiling the vehicle, therefore extending its shelf life.