Dry & Wet Waste Bins Installed in City, Don’t Serve a Damn Thing other Than Publicity Stunt?

Dry & Wet Waste Bins Installed in City, Don’t Serve a Damn Thing other Than Publicity Stunt?

Dry & Wet Waste Bins Installed in City, Don’t Serve a Damn Thing other Than Publicity Stunt? And now that the lids on most of these bins are stolen by rag-pickers, all the Wet & Dry waste has turned into filthy and smelly WET waste due to rain water?

Mangaluru : On 15 March 2019, Team Mangalorean had published a report What’s Dry and Wet Waste? Waste Bins donated by HP to MCC totally Abused by Citizens‘ abuse towards these bunch of Dry and wet Waste bins installed in the city by Hindustan Petroleum in association with Mangaluru City Corporation, and now we are seeing yet another private company by the name of Envoy Mortgage India Pvt Ltd, Balmatta Road-Mangaluru, which has installed these bins at prime locations- and the funny part is that, the lids on many of these bins are already been stolen by rag-pickers, and with the heavy rains lashing this City, all the dry and wet waste has turned into WET due to rain water.

In its fifth year, Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) has led to a paradigm shift when it comes to solid waste management. Stakeholders in cities across the country were sensitized on the importance of solid waste management – through programmes, cleanliness drives, workshops, competitions, rallies etc. It was only in its third year that an all India segregation campaign, “Har Din Do Bin” was launched on June 5, 2017. Under SBM, cities have to ensure 100 per cent source segregation within one year, which is a challenge and yet has been a game changer wherever implemented properly. But most of the cities in the country are not segregating in its true spirit, and for that, even Mangaluru too. Whom to blame, the district administration, MCC and above all, the ignorant CITIZENS!

Few months ago Hindustan Petroleum as part of Swachh Mangaluru project, had donated a bunch of Dry Waste and Wet Waste Garbage bins, in order to segregate wet waste from dry waste. It was indeed a kind gesture of HP to do that kind donation, but unfortunately, their kind service to the community has been not appreciated by the people of Mangaluru, and those who come to the City. And the worst part is that not many know, what is wet waste and and what is dry waste- and therefore if look around the city where these HP waste bins are placed, you’ll notice all kinds of garbage dumped into this bins. Indeed sad!

And now, with yet another private company installing the same kind of bins, the story happens to be the same, with people abusing the project. For example, one such wet and dry waste bin installed near a bus shelter opposite to natural’s Ice cream parlour, Kadri Pumpwell-Kadri road is totally abused by rich people who come in high-end cars to enjoy the ice-cream, and while they return home, dump all their waste into these two bins, irrespective of dry or wet materials- like from beer bottles, ice cream wrappers/cups etc etc- and majority of these who abuse the system happen to be EDUCATED PEOPLE? How about that! and since the lids of these two bins are already stolen, the waste inside the bins is all WET, and gone filthy, giving scope for mosquito breeding. Is this what we are looking for, when the city is haunted by over 500 dengue cases, and six deaths from dengue disease.

Another point is that keeping bins of that size in a City, where the population is enormous, just imagine how quick these bins could be full- and that’s what we are seeing everywhere. Hardly anyone empties them even after they are full, for days. Just this morning, I saw a BMW car coming by these bins kept near Kadri, and a lady from the car dumped all kinds of waste, without sorting out dry and wet. Seemed like she was a educated person from a well-to-do family? But seeing her habit was indeed unpleasant ? There are many such people who abuse these bins- so what’s the use in spending so much money on them, which don’t serve a damn thing? So the good efforts put in by HP and Envoy along with MCC pertaining to segregation, don’t work when we have ignorant citizens abusing the facility/system totally.

And in case our citizens are not aware of what is wet and dry waste, learn now. “Waste segregation” means dividing waste into dry and wet. Dry waste includes wood and related products, metals and glass. Wet waste typically refers to organic waste usually generated by eating establishments and are heavy in weight due to dampness. Waste can also be segregated on the basis of being biodegradable or non-biodegradable. Landfills are an increasingly pressing problem. Less and less land is available to deposit refuse, but the volume of waste is growing. As a result, segregating waste is not just of environmental importance, but also of economic concern.

In simple terms, waste segregation is the separation of wet waste and dry waste. The generation of waste is unavoidable, and the materials carried in this waste impacts human and environmental health. Naturally, waste management is something that must be carried out, and one way to do this meticulous segregation of wet and dry waste, so that dry waste can be recycled and wet waste can be composted. When we segregate waste, there is reduction of waste that reaches landfills and occupies space. Air and water pollution rates are considerably reduced, and makes it easier to apply different processes – composting, recycling and incineration can be applied to different kinds of waste.

Waste Segregation is the first step in a compliant waste management plan that will help the save the environment and improve the quality of the atmosphere we live in. It really does matter which bin you put the garbage into. If done in a proper manner, waste management not only eliminates the surrounding waste, but also will reduce the intensity of the greenhouse gases like methane, carbon monoxide which gets emitted from the wastes accumulated. The depth of the existing landfills will be also curbed, thereby cutting down whatever is toxic to the environment. The number of fossil fuels will also get reduced in this manner, leading to a cleaner and a greener environment.

So Team Mangalorean makes a kind request to all our educated and rich citizens in this educational hub, and also the common people to make use of these HP and Envoy Wet and Dry Waste bins WISELY and not ABUSIVELY? Thank You, on behalf of HP, Envoy and MCC.