‘Your Garbage, Your Responsibility’, With This As Their Mantra, Thiruvananthapuram Shows How To Manage Waste Effectively

New Delhi: Kerala is upping its Swachh quotient with each passing day by taking various steps for effective waste management; currently the state is on a mission to go 100% waste-free by November 1. The state is working on different projects and one such initiative is to close down all its landfills and make waste segregation at source and composting mandatory for all.

In Thiruvananthapuram, state’s waste-free mission is at its peak. The Corporation of Thiruvananthapuram is looking into composting organic waste right at the source, apart from segregating it. For this the corporation is providing technical assistance to people in setting up composting facilities at their houses and is offering equipment and maintenance services at a nominal price. Apart from providing the technical guidance and supplies to people, the ‘Green Technicians’ will on monthly basis will also collect the compost if the household does not require it.

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What’s more, the disposing of non-biodegradable waste has been simplified under the new waste management system for all the 100 wards in the city. Now, people of Thiruvananthapuram can drop the recyclable items at designated spots, and low-value waste can be dropped off at resource recovery facilities between 5 am and 9 pm. The corporation has made arrangements of collection spots in each of the wards.

A Swachh official from the Corporation of Thiruvananthapuram said, the user fee is Rs. 200 and that’s being charged for collection of recyclable waste and maintenance of these bins. For a family who own a bio-composting plant and needs collection of plastic waste, they only need to pay Rs. 60 per month. And if a person chooses to dump the waste in public then fines range from Rs 5,000 to Rs10,000 will be levied.

Through Kerala’s ‘Green Protocol’ movement that was initiated by the government, the residents are also being discouraged from using non-biodegradable products.

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Currently, under the Green Protocol, hotels have stopped the usage of plastic straws; education board in the state has passed a mandate for students that they will only use fountain pen and not plastic pens. The state is also promoting the concept of ‘Green Weddings’, where the usage of plastic and other non-degradable articles including disposable glasses and plates and thermocol decorations in the weddings are prohibited

Speaking on the State’s waste-free deadline, District Collector of Kannur, Mir Mohammed Ali added, everyone wants to make Kerala waste-free, many initiatives like Green Wedding, banning straws in hotels came into effect immediately after the state went Open Defecation Free in 2016, however, on August 15 this year we decided to take a step forward and make Kerala free from waste. Currently, we have asked all the villages, gram panchayats, blocks to come up with solutions on how that area can reduce waste and go waste free. We are hoping to kick-start at least one project by November 1.

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