My City My Responsibility - Waste Management Miracle

Dear All, 

Pune is one of the SMART cities and is still facing the challenges of managing waste in the city. I think its time we start taking management lessons from sustainable initiatives undertaken by small towns in making waste management a miracle. One such story is about a small town named Vengurla around 400 km from Pune under the leadership of Mr. Ramdas Kokare. 

Mr.Ramdas Kokare

Mr. Ramdas Kokare the former Chief Municipal Officer of Vengurla (now posted at Karjat) believes that apart from waste segregation at source, public participation is equally important for the city to be clean. Vengurla is a small town having around 12,400 people and generating almost 7 tonnes of wastes daily. 100% of the wastes is segregated into three different categories at the source like the wet, dry and hazardous. The wet waste is used for biogas generation producing electricity that powers machines used in the waste management facility. The dry waste is further segregated into 19 different types based on its reuse. All the nonrecyclable plastic is shredded, mixed with bitumen and used in road building making the roads more stronger. It was Mr. Kokare who implemented this in the town and transformed the waste landfill into waste management park. His management strategy simply involved taking rounds around the city just before coming to the office and while returning home, in order to see if the city is clean. He also motivated his subordinates to do the same! He and his subordinates personally talked with a certain number of people daily to educate them about the importance of waste segregation.  

Pune being an urban area having educated and active citizens is still struggling with segregation of wastes at the source into just wet and dry. Disposal of all the wastes is another issue completely. Our landfill sites are overused and people staying around the sites have to cope up with the nuisance. I cannot understand where does the problem lie? Are we not taking the Swach Bharat mission seriously? 

Mixed waste segregation

But then I feel people's participation is missing? Can the responsible citizens among us take inspiration from Mr. Kokare? Can we  educate each other about the importance of cleanliness in our surroundings in order to ensure a disease free locality? Can we advocate for segregation if we see someone not segregating the waste? Can we cooperate or coordinate with our local officers to ensure that our areas are clean? Can we ensure segregation of wastes into wet and dry and keep our sanitary wastes separately to ensure the hygiene of the waste collectors and processors?Segregation is a crucial first step. As Mr. Kokare says, mixed waste is a nuisance but segregated waste is a wealth. 

Pournima Agarkar.

My City My Responsibility - Terrace Gardening

Dear All, 

Veena Godbole's terrace garden

Is it really difficult to change our habits and shift to sustainable living? 

There are many citizens in Pune city itself who are living a sustainable lifestyle. Lets see what has driven the change in them. 

Veena Godbole: I got introduced to her through Dr. Priyadarshini Karve. She's a middle-aged women who just does not allow any of her kitchen waste out of her house. She has developed a beautiful terrace garden by using her household wet waste and cultivates her own vegetables and fruits. Of course, it takes a lot of dedication and effort to undertake such an initiative. But we can start with one vegetable or fruit. 

We saw in earlier blogs that wet waste generated in our household is quite a lot, and it is very easy to reuse it in our own garden or potted plants. If all of us ensure that our kitchen waste should not go out of the house, I think there will be a time when we may fall short of wet waste, and will have to borrow it. Something like this happened with Veena, she had to tie up with the local vegetable vendor for more wet waste. 

So, its like hitting two birds with one stone.We are resolving the problem of wet waste management at our end by forming a closed loop system where the waste of one product, acts as source of nourishment for another product and the cycle goes on. 

Think about it!

If you are also involved in doing something sustainable, please post a comment or write to me! Also if want to visit Veena Godbole terrace garden let me know.

  

Pournima Agarkar.