It is time to get serious about how we dispose our waste and discuss the consequences of haphazard disposal. Of late, we have seen civic authorities place bins marked wet and dry waste. While the indent may be laudable, most of the public simply does not know the difference between dry and wet waste. Even if they wish to segregate the items, they do not know which bin to use. It would be better if civic authorities specify which bin should be used for what, with pictorial or a graphic on each.
Most flat owners in buildings too, do not dispose their garbage correctly. We need number of public service initiatives that can be screened before the movies, or we can put up hoardings to up the awareness about the waste that can be recycled and cannot and how to segregate the two. Children need to be taught this from the school level itself, and it should be the part of their DNA. Making compost at home is good idea for people living in pensioner’s enclave. Citizens need to build will power to tackle the garbage and dumping ground problem.
Garbage menace is causing lots of discomfort and the accumulation is causing many health diseases to bear as well. Mumbai garbage is dumped in Navi Mumbai to save space and to pass on the bug to the satellite city. Navi Mumbai is saturated and the inflow of people coming through the trains almost occupied the vacant spots and the spread of Swine Flu, Malaria, Dengue, Viral fever, Cholera and lepton all make us worried and the medical fraternity is trying its best to eradicate such diseases. But the influx of garbage through human waste and the construction material make the people hard pressed to dispose of the waste. Waste management should work in co-ordination with BMC and find amicable solution. In foreign countries, especially in Sweden, the scheme of things go according to a plan and they have plan to importing garbage waste has run out of raw material. Whereas in India, we do not have an action plan to dispose waste and therefore the accumulation could not be controlled. Thus we should also find a via media to dispose of waste in a planned way without affecting the health of the people. Just disposing the same in sea or through the drainage system will further pollute sea water and clog the drainage system and block the free flow of water as well. It is time to take remedial steps to make sure that the Garbage accumulated is recycled as far as possible through tested methods and not affecting the environment.
Housing Societies should be given guidelines to act in safe way is disposing garbage rather than just dumping in another place. Our society is having a good system to dispose of the waste and NMMC sent its big truck to fill the waste and give us a helping hand. It is time to follow time tested methods and find ways and means to reuse and recycle waste in the best way possible. As a social servant I made it a point to remove accumulated garbage and old vehicles from the society to give the complex best ambiance in the recent past. This accumulation of garbage and parking of old vehicles are the major reason for increase in swine flu cases in satellite city in the recent past.
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
