RWAs join hands with civic body for garbage segregation

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Chandigarh, June 11

To increase citizen participation in the segregation of waste at source and home composting, the Municipal Corporation (MC) today held meetings in sectors under the theme “Aapke Saath”, as part of Environment Week observed from June 5 to 11.

The representatives of Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs) shared their practices of segregation and home composting. The citizens appreciated the efforts of the corporation by mentioning that officials were interacting, available and dealing with their problems and issues, and a change had been noticed for the past couple of months.

While addressing the representatives of the RWAs at the community centre, Sector 8, Mayor Sarbjit Kaur said the residents, who were composting their wet or kitchen waste at their houses should create awareness among others.

Laws of collective behaviour suggest that if someone sees their neighbours doing something together, they are compelled to join in to be socially included. Once enough momentum is gathered, the RWAs can invest in a larger community composting system. For RWAs that need to compost on a site, composting solutions can be made available by the civic body, added the Mayor.

Anindita Mitra, Commissioner, MC, addressed a similar programme at the community centre, Sector 22, during which she said from segregation to recycling to making compost, residents should handle the waste responsibly and ensure that it did not end up in a mixed form at the Dadu Majra landfill.

She said the RWAs should hold virtual or physical demonstrations for the city residents, domestic help and housekeeping staff to understand and practice segregation and create awareness about the categories of household waste so that every home knew what items fell under the categories of dry, wet, sanitary and hazardous waste.

She lauded the efforts in this regard of the office-bearers of the RWAs with nearly 100-odd houses and flats in Sector 22-A, which generates about 200 kg of solid waste, including 150 kg kitchen waste, every day. Unlike many other sectors or societies, the residents of these houses make sure that all of their waste is recycled and does not go to the waste collectors.

It all began one year ago when Puja Ghai and Hem Raj Satija had practiced waste segregation at their houses for over a couple of months by segregating dry waste separately and making compost from the kitchen and horticulture waste. They decided to turn this into a campaign, involving all nearby residents of their sector.

Poverty no…