Dengue hotspot becomes a waste management pioneer
Six years ago, Kerala’s coastal city of Alappuzha was synonymous with waterborne epidemics. Dengue and chikungunya ravaged the city between 2011 and 2012, claiming several lives and making its health officials hang their heads in shame.
But bitter experiences can make for a good teacher, and today, even old-timers would agree that Alappuzha is back to being the ‘Venice of the East’. Last December, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) rated it as one the top five cities in the world as far as waste management was concerned. Its report, titled ‘Solid approach to waste: How five cities are beating pollution’, even cited the Alappuzha model as one that other cities should emulate.
The other cities on the list were Osaka (Japan), Ljubljana (Slovenia), Penang (Malaysia) and Cajica (Colombia).
The winds of change in Alappuzha began blowing when people residing near the Sarvodayapuram dumpyard objected to the increasing amount of waste being deposited in their neighbourhood. A concerned municipality agreed to cut down the quantum of waste deposits but soon found sticking to its commitment an unsustainable affair. Left with nowhere to throw their waste, people began leaving bags of garbage in canals and public spaces.
As the city’s rodent and stay dog population began multiplying, fears of a plague outbreak akin to the one at Surat in 1994 broke out – drawing red flags from medical experts and affecting its thriving tourism industry. Left with no choice, both government officials and political leaders began hunting for out-of-thebox solutions to the waste dis-
ALAPPUZHA:
posal problem.
At this point, Alappuzha MLA Thomas Issac (now the state finance minister) coined the slogan “My waste, my responsibility”. Soon, the city kicked off a major drive to decentralise waste management and treat garbage at their points of origin. There were hurdles, but slowly, dumping points began turning into water and sanitation parks. Wat-San (water and sanitation) clubs were instituted in colleges and schools to create awareness on the importance of waste management.
“We initially launched it as a pilot programme in 12 wards of the city. We provided subsidies for setting up composting bins and bio-gas plants, and trained people in segregation and treatment of biodegradable and nondegradable waste,” said Issac.
Today, the city has 3,000 household biogas plants and 1,800 piped compost bins. LPG consumption has decreased by at least 30% with the use of biogas. People who don’t have such bins and biogas plants can make use of 23 aerobic bin units located less than a kilometre away to deposit segregated waste.
“We used to dump our waste on the roadside for municipality trucks to collect. But now our waste actually fetches us good returns. We even sell piped compost manure to the needy,” said S Bindhu, a housewife residing in the heart of the city.
Meanwhile, the successful Alappuzha model is being replicated in many towns across the state. “After successfully implementing the waste-management system, we now want to clean the waterways and canals that crisscross the city,” said Alappuzha MP KC Venugopal. An idyllic lagoon and backwater destination, the city teems with houseboats.
“The city generates at least 58 tonnes of garbage, 22 tonnes of which is organic. Once biodegradable waste is tacked at origin points, handling non-degradable waste becomes easy. We shred them in our units and mix them with tar to lay roads,” said C Jayakumar, health inspector of the Alappuzha municipality. “Sustainable monitoring is key to successful waste management.
Municipal chairman Thomas Joseph agreed, stating that the morale of sanitation workers is high. “Still, more people have to be made aware of the system. We have installed CCTVs everywhere and hiked dumping fines substantially,” he said.