Waste Management in India

One issue in India that really saddens me is the problem of waste management. I am no cleanliness freak but a person who appreciates good health and beauty. Hence the focus here is not just to bicker about litter but actually do something about it.

So let’s talk about what bothers us and India.

No Segregation leads to Degradation.

Every day we see piles of domestic waste getting collected from houses, I don’t blame them who have no time to create separate bins, one for dry waste and one for wet waste; well that mind set will get us nowhere. Segregate your waste people and get it right! You will help save a lot of lives, prevent diseases in the process and save Mother Nature. There’s a lot to come out of it.

Recycle

Look out for the things that go out of your window, the other day I saw a kid throw a banana peel out, word has it that he slipped on one the next day, remember people what goes around comes around, so recycle.

Let’s talk about something we deal with everyday, do you know how much we can save (the trees!) by recycling our newspapers and also by not printing those unnecessary copies which can be easily available in digital format.

Save a life for no price

The sky-rocketing prices in cities have caused some of our poor folk to reside near land files, dump yards et al. This waste we create is not helping their health any better, you never know what toxins get emitted with burning of plastic, we all know about the ill effects, think about them breathing in these things every day, harsh isn’t it. The simple solution here would be carry cloth bags along with you when you go buy groceries or for any shopping, you won’t have to pay those extra 5 bucks too.

What went right what went wrong?

India needs to have strict laws in this sector. Greenpeace a NGO; initiated the fight for creating laws to save the environment. The fight went on for e-waste, which was illegally dumped in our country by the developed ones. After a lot of protest the Govt. of India passed a law “E-WASTE (MANAGEMENT AND HANDLING) RULES, 2011”, it was put to effect from May 2012. According to this law, Producers of the electronic equipment would be responsible for collection of the e-waste generated during the production process and would have to take conscious efforts in rightfully recycling the same.

A major flaw in this rule was the reversal of the ban on import of e-waste which was present in the draft released in May 2010. This issue needs to be addressed for protecting the citizens from such environmental damage.

This list is never ending. So I shall leave the choice to you and end my blog with three words “Renew Reuse Recycle!!”