Bhubaneswar, June 2: Solid waste collection in the city started today with the corporation pressing into action new dustbins and compactor vehicles.

This initiative by the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) and three private operators is set to make the system faster, more effective and cheaper.

Officials said the garbage collection would be done following the previous ward system in the city. Earlier, there were 60 wards under the corporation and the number was increased to 67 following delimitation prior to the civic polls in January.

Other than eight wards where the solid waste and garbage collection would be undertaken by the corporation, the private organisations Ramkay Environment Engineers Ltd, Jagruti Welfare Organisation and PMR Cosortium will take care of the remaining 52 wards.

Sources said the agencies would clean up the areas, collect garbage from doorsteps as well as from dustbins and carry the waste to the transit transfer station behind the Sainik School campus. These agencies will add new dustbins at important places in their wards.

“The compactor vehicles will help in packing more garbage in a certain space,” said city health officer Chandrika Prasad Das.

Unlike previous instances when garbage collection was monitored through trips the vehicles made to the dumping yard, this time, weight would be the measuring indicator.

A weighbridge has already been fixed at the transit transfer station near Sainik School, where the garbage trucks and tractors would be weighed and again sent to the final dumping yard at Bhuasuni.

This will help maintain transparency because neither the agencies nor the contractors would be able to cheat the municipal corporation.

In the earlier format, contractors used to cheat the corporation by providing false bills.

In 2011, the state vigilance had unearthed how a contractor had claimed Rs 5.63 lakh against a false bill by showing a vehicle with two-wheeler registration number.

“The new format will also save money. The compactor machines would compress the garbage and more garbage would be carried in less vehicles thus saving excess money on extra vehicles,” said Sarat Kar, a citizen.

“This system will also provide faster service with the three agencies and BMC itself taking care of the cleanliness. Competition among the agencies will also yield good result for the residents,” said councillor Hruday Ballabh Samantray.

The service was to be streamlined with commissioning of the weighbridge at the transit transfer station yesterday. But it could not happen because computer operators for the weighbridge had not been appointed. Consequently, the system started operating this afternoon.

“We started the system with the weighing operation for two vehicles today. From 6.30am tomorrow, the co-ordinated process will start. As an agreement has already been signed with a Mumbai-based consortium company for a solid waste treatment plant, by the time the facility comes up, we must be fully ready with an efficient system to collect garbage,” said BMC commissioner Krishan Kumar.