Mounting waste crisis puts Srinagar’s ecosystem in danger
Srinagar, May 13: Kashmir's breathtaking landscape is threatened by massive amounts of trash being produced and recklessly dumped, endangering its delicate environment and highlighting the urgent need for action.
The valley produces an astonishing 3,000 metric tonnes of plastic waste annually, with over 17,00 metric tonnes being recklessly dumped into agricultural fields, green forests and water bodies. The dumping of waste poses a severe threat to the fragile ecosystem, prompting urgent calls from experts to address this pressing crisis.
In the midst of this crisis, Farooq Ahmad, the 45- yearold village head of Verinag, a hamlet in the southern Kashmiri region of Ananatnag, founded a communityrun initiative called Waste to Gold. Ahmad realised the seriousness of the situation when a visitor from outside the valley pointed out a pile of trash that was making his village appear unsanitary.
Ahmad took charge of the situation and recruited a group of volunteers from his hamlet, known as "safaye sewaks" or cleanliness helpers. As he continued to work on the project, other members of the community became interested in joining his efforts. Ahmad's approach was to encourage people in his village to collect trash by offering them gold coins as an incentive, which he believed would yield immediate results and demonstrate his commitment to the environment.
In addition to promoting proper garbage management, Ahmad's strategy also helped to raise public awareness about the harmful effects of improper waste disposal. "My hamlet is now clean after previously being a region littered with trash, and I aim to make it India's first green village," he said.
Ahmad's strategy has served as inspiration in several nearby villages, but has yet to be adapted outside of Kashmir.
According to Ahmad, the gold coin contest was won by a resident of a nearby community, which he saw as evidence of how he was able to increase awareness and educate local residents about the importance of proper waste management. "I was overjoyed when a local from a nearby village won the competition to collect trash weighing about two tonnes. I am satisfied because I achieved exactly what I set out to do. Every village should adopt my idea, in my opinion," he said.
Arshid Jahangir, an environmentalist who has been working on waste issues for the past 15 years at Kashmir University told Fair-planet that the choice of "Solution to Plastic Pollution" as this year's environmental theme highlights the importance and magnitude of the problem. He added that the issue is particularly severe in Kashmir as the valley lacks an effective waste treatment system.
"Only one landfill site uses scientific methods to dispose of rubbish, and it is in Srinagar's Achen neighbourhood," he said. “However, the site is overburdened, which has caused leachate to leak onto the neighbouring agricultural land, contaminating it with hazardous pollutants, creating a foul odour and making locals susceptible to diseases.”
He further emphasized the urgency of taking swift action since improper waste dumping can cause a host of problems, including aesthetic challenges, various types of pollution, and other related issues. "Before anything else, the government needs to bring in behavioural changes.”
He said that over 50 percent of waste in Kashmir is disposed of without being treated, which has a detrimental impact on the region's ecology. "This unscientific waste disposal impacts land, air and water bodies, inflicting significant harm to the overall environment of the area. The government should strengthen waste segregation at the source and implement waste- to- energy principles.”
He claimed that one way to reduce the amount of organic waste in landfills is to turn it into nutrient- rich compost, which can then be used to make low- cost farmer manure. "It will also advance sustainable agricultural methods.”