Open House: Do you think the initiative of waste segregation has been successful?

Public support, official monitoring must

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It is gratifying to see authorities concerned about waste management in the cities and towns of the state. As elsewhere in India, Punjab generates thousands of tonnes of garbage daily most of which is dumped untreated at public places or in the open. The odour emanating from heaps of trash or the smoke wherever it is burnt has an adverse affect on human health and environment. Aware of the alarming problem, the civic bodies have provided residents access to basic waste management services. Unlike before, the authorities have reportedly purchased adequate waste management equipment and started collecting solid waste from the households. In the West, residents are required to segregate dry and wet waste at their homes to make the task of the civic bodies easier. Undoubtedly, sensible and sensitive people obey the directions willingly but a majority of them don’t care two hoots. For the successful implementation of the waste management project, public support along with monitoring and regulation is essential. The officials should ensure that all households belonging to the lower income groups maintain garbage bins for the purpose. Those who do not act accordingly should be strictly dealt with. Residents should also try to do more to ‘reduce, recycle and reuse’ and pave the way for a better world and healthier environment in the future.

Tajpreet S Kang

Penalise those not segregating waste

During my frequent visits to the United States, where both my sons reside, I have observed that there are dustbins of different colours in which they put their dry and wet waste generated in their homes. Every week the local authorities bring their specific vehicles to empty those dustbins. Similar procedure should be implemented in our cities too. In our country, people don’t segregate waste in their homes. They just splatter the waste in front of their homes and in the streets. Even though the Municipal Corporation has urged people to segregate the waste, but residents scarcely follow the guideline. Maybe some penalties may do the trick. Strict measures will not only make residents compliable, but also encourage sanitary workers to do their duty fully and conscientiously. The MC should take the help of media to spread awareness and make the initiative a success. People should be made aware of their civic duties and how waste segregation can help keep contamination and diseases like dengue, malaria, cholera, typhoid at bay.

Dr JS Wadhwa

Commercial buildings following guidelines

In my opinion, waste management by way of segregation has been partially successful. While the impact in the city may not be visible due to residents’ reluctance to take pains to segregate waste, commercial establishments, such as hospitals and restaurants, are following the rules as framed by the administration. We still see heaps of garbage on internal roads and streets as residents are failing to follow the directions issued by the competent authorities. As Jalandhar is under the Smart City project, it is the duty of the authorities to educate and guide residents to adopt the culture of dry and wet waste segregation. The city is expanding with the focus on development of infrastructure on the outskirts, just like in Mohali and Noida, the focus on effective waste management assumes great significance. If the authorities fail to gauge the emerging situation in the burgeoning city, the waste, sewage and water supply management can pose insurmountable challenges. We will have to wait and watch how the administration frames the policies in future, especially on waste management.

Rajat Kumar Mohindru

Engage residents to achieve target

Over the past few years, there has been a colossal increase in the biomass residue and domestic waste, making the civic bodies’ task to dispose of the garbage and maintain cleanliness in cities even more onerous. Notably, one of the prime objectives of the Swachh Bharat Mission, launched in 2014, is to sensitise people towards environmental care with stress on hygiene to improve the general quality of life. However, the mission can’t be wholly transformative if it is not executed fairly as the garbage lies scattered around the houses or localities due to the apathy of safai karamacharis and carelessness of the residents, which is not only the major cause of pollution, but invites many ailments, as well. Apparently, a lot more needs to be done to manage the domestic waste in a scientific manner, which involves collection, transportation, processing, recycling, treatment, and disposal of the solid and liquid material. Safai karamcharis ought to be exhorted and monitored regularly to dump the waste at designates sites only. The government should engage NGOs in cleanliness projects and every citizen should come forward and behave responsibly in proper disposal of the domestic waste by segregating it for easier decomposition for useful purposes. With a little more care and cautious approach a lasting solution to the problem of foul-smelling heaps of garbage piling up at different sites can be found and several other environmental issues can be effectively addressed.

Nirmaljit Singh Chatrath

Strengthen waste disposal system

Disposal and management of garbage is a major challenge the local governing bodies are struggling to meet satisfactorily. But the gigantic task cannot be performed successfully without the support of locals. For proper management, the waste at source has to be minimised and its segregation into wet and dry ones at homes has to be undertaken. Residents need to be made aware of segregation, besides strengthening the official system for collection, segregation and disposal of garbage. The government should additionally engage the services of scrap dealers for proper disposal and recycling of glass bottles, tins, packing materials, plastic items, papers etc, which constitute 80% of total trash from homes. Even rag-pickers can be engaged officially and paid daily wages, too, on an experimental basis. If successful, the initiative will not only help manage city’s waste properly, but also generate livelihood for the poor.

Jagdish Chander

Shun plastic, use recyclable items

Waste management is a burning issue in the country today as it has a devastating impact on human health and the ecosystem. Like other states, heaps of garbage are found everywhere in Punjab. Residents carry their household waste in banned plastic bags and dump it on the roadsides and in the open spaces. The Municipal Corporation’s initiative to effectively manage garbage in the city is welcome. It calls for a people-centred approach to duly dispose of waste in a proper and hygienic manner. To seek public support and cooperation, authorities have been encouraging residents to segregate dry and wet wastage at homes only. The administration should also rope in NGOs to engage with residents to change their mindset and behaviour about waste management. The sanitation workers involved in door-to-door collection on daily basis, transportation and processing of municipal solid waste should be properly trained. They should build a rapport with residents and encourage them to keeping doing segregation for the overall improvement of homes and surrounding areas. The ensured routine collection of garbage from homes will empower residents to lead better lives by building self-reliance, co-existence and sustainability. On their part, the residents should use reusable grocery bags, avoid disposable food and drink containers and utensils, make organic compost from food leftovers, peels of vegetables and fruits, egg shells, grass clippings and leaves to use in their kitchen gardens and flower pots.

DS Kang

Let there be a proper waste mgmt policy

We find heaps of garbage lying everywhere on roads, reflecting poorly on city residents and authorities concerned. Even garbage dumps are not properly sanitised and covered or have boundary walls. Garbage is not lifted regularly due to lack of infrastructure or strikes by municipal workers’ unions. As a result, residents are protesting against dumps in their locations as these have instead of solving their problems compounded them. Now the question is how to best manage the garbage from the point of origin i.e. home, shops, hotels, etc. When a garbage collector comes at home, the waste should be properly segregated i.e. wet waste like biodegradable substances (vegetable or fruit peels, waste generated from food items, etc.) should be separated from dry waste like wood, metals, plastic, polythene, etc. In advanced cities like Bangalore, the government has made a special dump even for e-waste products where computer chips, LED TVs, mobile phones, etc, are disposed of. Garbage-lifting vans, dumps, and final collection centres should have special provisions for maintaining segregation. Housewives and garbage-lifting persons should be properly trained by municipalities. Let there be a proper solid waste management policy so that segregated items can be properly recycled. Several countries have made waste segregation at source mandatory in efforts to promote decentralised waste management. The National Green Tribunal and pollution control boards are key players in the process.

Harvinder Singh Chugh

QUESTION

In 2016, Jalandhar was included in the list of the cities that had to be developed under the Smart City Mission. Six years on, do you see any visible changes around you that show the city is on its way to becoming a ‘Smart City’?

Suggestions in not more than 200 words can be sent to jalandhardesk@tribunemail.com by Thursday (September 8)