3 months needed to put 2-bin policy into effect
People must be made aware of benefits of trash segregation
Even though the GHMC has said that two bins will be provided to every household in the city to segregate waste, the plan will need at least three months to materialise.
The Suryapet municipality, where the waste segregation model was launched first, was looked up to as a model by many municipalities across the country. But that too had its share of glitches in way of its implementation. Currently, while some households segregate waste before disposing, it is the garbage collectors who segregate wet and dry waste for others.
“One model doesn’t work for all and an expert panel might be formed to look into it,” a senior official said.
The idea should be to minimise the creation of waste at the source, then encourage reuse, energy recovery and disposal of garbage should be the last resort, experts opined.
However, a lot of groundwork needs to be done before distributing the bins and the common man needs to be made aware about the benefits.
“Waste segregation at source seems to be a challenge because of lack of Information, education of public about the concept and lack of proper communication. People aren’t aware of the environmental pollution and increase in greenhouse effect caused by municipal waste. We are innocuous to it,” said Ravi Kant, former IAS officer and solid waste management expert.
In countries like Japan and Germany, waste is segregated in three or four parts because of the amount of awareness, it shouldn’t be difficult to achieve the same here with a proper plan, experts said.
Mr Kant added: “A huge public campaign to make the citizens aware of the whole process should be started. If one needs sustainability, garbage should be managed effectively.”