I am not aware how effective the waste management system is in the nations abroad but I know for a fact that as far as one can see most advanced nations have a system in place. In most parts of India on the other hand, I am certain it could be more effective. I stay in a high rise building here in Kochi – the queen of the Arabian Sea – and sadly I find waste management practices followed here is abysmal to say the least. Even in the apartment where I live, most of the residents are well to do businessmen and educated office going people. But when it comes to civic awareness some are all indifferent and perhaps even  ignorant.

My building’s association is quite pro active and vibrant. Despite having a garbage disposal chute to clear wastes, our association  banned that practice and introduced the concept of segregating wastes into GREEN and YELLOW Buckets – Green for the Bio degradable and Yellow for the not so environmentally friendly stuff. It was with great enthusiasm that the association got the Kerala Builders Forum to invite speakers to educate us on this new practice we were to put into place. Something went wrong somewhere or people never got the message clearly for a few days after the FREE buckets were distributed, some were found storing cereals in it while others were using it to wash their cars.

Sadly five months down the line we are thinking of scrapping the whole project and going back to the same old practice of letting Veluswamy – a retired corporation worker - come and take it away only to dump it somewhere out of sight when night falls. If any this old practice surely a case of Robbing Peter to pay Paul or is it Cleaning Peter’s backyard to dirty Paul’s? In fact some months ago there was a crisis in Kochi when the corporation didn’t know what to do with the waste that was piling up daily. The problem was compounded when some trucks that were smuggling loads of waste into a neighbouring state (to dump it there) were caught at the state border and confiscated.

Now this is the case of just one building being discussed. Imagine the case of a million people living in a city practicing the exact same things. What a mess it would be and more than anything else we are sitting on a TIME BOMB waiting to go. Sixty years after our independence, if there is anything our country so badly lacks – its basic infrastructure. We don’t have adequate roads, power supply, water supply or even the most basic requirement – waste disposal. It difficult to lay the blame on any one person or organisation and frankly it has gotten to a stage where only the combined efforts of us one and all will help solve the situation.

Any one who has travelled abroad would have noticed the Do Not Litter Signs displayed prominently at various places and trash cans would also have been provided at regular intervals along the roads.  I once came across a black T shirt which had the words SINGAPORE IS A FINE CITY on it. Need I say more on what might happen if you littered there? Is there any penalty that we can impose on someone littering on the roads? No way …. not in India. Here in Kochi on the other hand the roads are perpetually filthy and dusty and vehicle pollution is the smaller of the problems. Kochi ,incidentally, is one of the cleaner places in India  by the way.

In India there are very few places where I have seen trash cans along the road. Not even in tourist spots do we find sufficient number of trash cans. The little things we do every day make a difference in building our civic awareness. Had it been for this higher level of awareness and civic discipline, we probably wouldn’t find people stuffing sanitary napkins and diapers or used condoms into the toilet bowls hoping it will get flushed out. “Hoping” because it does not and it causes greater problems for the apartment at large.

So what alternative solutions where do we look for while we revert to the time tested and irresponsible practice of letting Veluswamy dump our filthy waste in someone else’s backyard? Land Fills, Incinerators or the Plasma Gun? Each of these have their pros and cons and severe cost implications as well. Are we ready for it?

While Landfills can begin to affect (pollute) the ground water table and cause long term problems if not done properly, Incinerators have problems associated with exhaust fume delivery and pollution issues. The Plasma Gun does not differentiate between YELLOW or GREEN bucket stuff… it just vapourises them all –  making it look like its straight out of Sci Fi movie. This by far is the best method of getting rid of our wastes albeit expensive BUT  we can derive energy  and building materials out of it.

I feel its time the state and central governments and we as citizens use some of that money we are making out of our BOOMING economy and did something right and get used to making ourselves believe that this CHALTHAI ATTITUDE of ours NAHI CHALTHA.