New Delhi: ‘Desh ko saaf rakhne ki jimmedri nibhaye, ab se sukha kachra neele bin mein pheikein aur geela kachra hare dustbin mein (Help keep India clean, from now onwards, throw your household garbage in two bins – green dustbin for wet waste and blue dustbin for dry waste)’ one can hear this announcement in some sectors of Noida lately, as the Noida Municipal Corporation recently deployed door-to-door segregated garbage collecting vehicles, thereby making waste segregation at source for residents compulsory. But here’s what is wrong with the action –
27-year-old Anisha Singh from Sector 37 of Noida says,
On one random day, last week, we were told by our Resident Welfare Association that we have to from now onwards deposit segregated waste in the garbage collecting vehicle, we don’t even know what it really means.
She further added, “Currently the situation in our sector is confusing – the waste is being picked by both the RWAs waste pickers and the municipal corporation garbage collecting vehicle. The time for the municipality van to come in my sector is 9 am whereas for RWAs waste picker is 11 am. As I don’t know what to do with the waste segregation rule, I opt for giving my garbage to the RWA waste pickers only.”
On the other hand, 36-year-old Shalini Prasad from the same sector who has been practicing waste segregation for 3 years now added,
The problem is that the vehicle is not stopping at a particular place for the residents to come out and deposit their household garbage, it is continuously on the move. I wanted to take a photo of the vehicle, as the so-called segregated vehicle came without the provision of two-bins, but I couldn’t take it because the vehicle was moving continuously. So, how am I supposed to put my household waste into it?
Also Read: Fighting India’s Garbage Crisis: What Are The Challenges India Faces In Managing Its Waste
45-year-old Aakanksha Sidhu from sector 22 says, “I want to comply with the new rules, but, every day I fail at it. I don’t even get to know when the garbage picking vehicle is coming to my sector, there is no announcement or the music that is being played.”
NDTV spoke with the Noida Municipal Corporation officials to understand the situation, when asked why there is so much confusion related to the waste segregation rule, a senior official from the authority said, “Waste Management is a new concept for everyone, we have started with the basics of waste management currently and that is why we have deployed the garbage collecting vehicle in some colonies of Noida. Soon, we will also start educating people about the waste segregation rule and what needs to be done. We have got 60 new garbage collecting vehicles for the same, once people get familiar about the activity, we will deploy strict rules for the waste segregation.”
Taking an expert view on the issue of waste segregation and how it is being followed in Noida, NDTV also spoke with Swati Sambhyal, programme manager at Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), she said,
Everywhere in Delhi NCR, the basic issue with waste segregation and why it is not taking off is that the authorities do not have a 360-degree system for it. The authorities need to support waste management end to end – they just can’t randomly start with one thing like waste segregation. If waste segregation is being done, authorities should have provision to collect the waste in the segregated form and then further have provision to sort it effectively through composting units and recycling units. For now, Delhi NCR does not have it all.
Highlighting what municipalities should be doing, Ms Samhyal added,
“Technically, the waste collection should only be handled by municipalities. RWAs and society management system should act as a watchdog. Moreover, the municipalities should come together and mandate in-house waste management for big societies, RWAs, where the management can deploy their waste pickers and have provision for composting and recycling system.”
Also Read: Fighting India’s Garbage Crisis: All About Composting
NDTV – Dettol Banega Swachh India campaign lends support to the Government of India’s Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM). Helmed by Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan, the campaign aims to spread awareness about hygiene and sanitation, the importance of building toilets and making India open defecation free (ODF) by October 2019, a target set by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, when he launched Swachh Bharat Abhiyan in 2014. Over the years, the campaign has widened its scope to cover issues like air pollution, waste management, plastic ban, manual scavenging and menstrual hygiene. The campaign has also focused extensively on marine pollution, clean Ganga Project and rejuvenation of Yamuna, two of India’s major river bodies.
