Sheer waste of time

The garbage situation in the City was not so unbearable until the powers that be decided to introduce garbage segregation at source. That’s when the whole City began turning into a virtual dumpyard.

Several Bangaloreans concede that the entire process of garbage segregation at source cannot be sustained. Even if segregation happens at source, it is dumped in a common place by the pourakarmikas and there aren’t enough processing units in the City.

Metrolife spoke to the BBMP, resident welfare associations and people in general to understand why the whole process of segregation cannot be sustained.

BBMP commissioner Rajneesh Goel reasons that segregation began on a good note but the people have not been cooperative in sustaining the effort.

“It’s only the wet waste that is being collected everyday. It is sad to see many people mixing wet with dry waste before handing it over to the garbage collector. Even if one person mixes wet and dry waste the whole purpose is lost,” says Rajneesh.

He agrees that waste segregation has not helped as much as it was supposed to. “What is required is a more decentralised planning at the lowest level. We are going to hold training sessions with residents associations and NGOs to help in waste segregation. A legislation has also been proposed which should be passed in the ongoing assembly session,” he adds.     

Meenakshi Bharath, a member of the Malleswaram Residents Welfare Association (RWA), thinks RWAs can be instrumental in spreading the message about waste segregation. “It is largely successful in our area and RWAs have a better reach to the people living in that particular area. Unless a law is passed, I don’t think waste segregation will be taken seriously,” says Meenakshi.   

The ordinary people feel that it is a waste of time to segregate garbage, until the authorities come out with proper measures to tackle segregated waste.

V R Ganesh, a consultant, confesses, “I began segregating waste and handing it over to the garbage collectors everyday, until I saw that all the waste collected from different houses was not segregated but dumped in a common place. I have decided to stop segregating until the BBMP decides to correct its unprofessional ways.”

Tinu J, an MBA student, feels that the whole issue of garbage segregation has been dealt with very irresponsibly. “As responsible citizens, we started segregating waste but we found that it was being dumped in a common place. What’s the point of separating wet from dry waste. The segregation is a failure unless the BBMP comes up with a workable waste disposal and management system. Looking at the present situation, segregating garbage is a waste of time.”

Several schools in the City have been training their students to segregate wet from dry waste.
 The students have been tutored on the importance of segregation. Pallavi V N, a high school student, points out that one of the drastic changes in the City has been the rule of mandatory segregation.

 “We are taught garbage segregation in school but it hasn’t made a difference because we don’t get a chance to follow it. Even if we separate it at home, it is dumped again in a common place,” she concludes.