The draft report of a recent study conducted by the Nagpur-based National Environmental Engineering Research, Institute has recommended a tax to finance the disposal of solid waste. The study was conducted for the Bofnbay municipal corporation under the Metropolitan Environmental Improvement Programme.

The report recommends that the net financial burden of garbage disposal be transferred to users through a 'solid waste benefit tax', and that measures be taken to reduce expenditure on staff salaries. At the same time, the study also states that lower incomegroups should pay nominal charges, while higher income groups should pay standard charges. Subsidisation of the nominal charges could be offset through higher taxes levied from the commercial and industrial sectors, the study holds. It also points out that the collection, transportation, processing and disposal of waste could be privatised to a far greater extent.