Garbage segregation remains a non-starter in Mangaluru

The campaign for collection of waste segregated at source, launched by the Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC) on November 1, has remained a non-starter.

The MCC has taken up the drive as part of ongoing Swachh Mangaluru drive. In April 2015, it had launched a campaign for collection of segregated waste on a trial basis in Court ward, some parts of Kodialbail, Kambala, Derebail South, Bejai and Mannagudda wards covering 5,000 houses. However, the initiative fizzled out soon.

Kavitha Sanil, the chairperson of the MCC standing committee on public health and education, at a press meet before launching the drive, had said that said six auto tippers, painted yellow, will cover the 60 wards in the city. 

Sanil had said that the vehicles would collect dry waste on fixed days in a week while wet waste would be collected on a daily basis. Kitchen waste, rotten vegetables, fruits, food items, chicken, fish, tissue paper and plantain leaves are classified as wet waste while plastic covers, milk packets, chocolate wrappers, paper, glass and metallic items, rubber, wooden pieces, coconut shells, used clothes, dust and cosmetic items are considered dry waste.

A hotelier in Ballalbagh said that the agency appointed for collecting the waste do not collect the dry waste separately.

Shreemathi, a resident of Ujjodi said that she had segregated the waste generated in her house but the vehicle did not turn for collection.

Rajesh, a resident of Ballalbagh said that even though he hands over segregated waste to the civic workers, they mix it before transporting the garbage to dump yard. “The tippers, painted yellow, have not visited us for collecting garbage,” he said.

Antony Waste Handling Cell Pvt  Ltd Mangaluru Project Head Santosh Nair said that the firm had focused on collecting segregated waste from apartments and malls. The collection would be taken up in a phased manner.  “We are taking up IEC (information, education and communication) activities in malls and other areas.”

Admitting that there had been slow progress in collecting segregated waste, Mayor Harinath said that the drive was yet to pick up pace. “Even I have not seen the yellow vehicles on the road in the last two days. We are holding talks with the agency entrusted with the responsibility of collecting the waste to address the problem,” the mayor said.

According to Anti-Pollution Drive (APD) Foundation, which is  entrusted with the task of creating mass awareness on waste segregation, on an average, Mangaluru city generates 300 tonnes of garbage per day.

This is equivalent to 30 truckloads of waste per day that adds to 10,950 truck loads to landfill every year. 

Out of 300 tonnes of waste daily almost 90% is dumped in the landfill. However if waste is not mixed at source, almost 80% of this waste can be converted into manure.