The area previously had no primary segregation of waste and the MCD dhalao overflowed, turning the whole place filthy, says Shammi Talwar, joint secretary of the Defence Colony residents’ welfare association.
Unhappy with the existing system of solid waste management, Defence Colony residents decided to launch an initiative to turn their locality into a cleaner place to live.
Six compost pits were constructed, each 12x5x4 feet. Starting something like this required space for locating compost pits, and procurement of infrastructure. The RWA made an effort by constructing the compost pits and coordinating with waste collectors.
There are around 4,000 households in this south Delhi locality.
“The RWA here, in collaboration with Toxics Link, an NGO working in the field of environment, hired waste collectors, who would first segregate household waste into dry and wet,” says Talwar. The waste collectors took dry waste like bottles, leather items and rubber with themselves, and would dump the wet waste or kitchen waste into compost pits.
“When the pit is filled with garbage, we put effective microbes solution (EM solution) into it. After this, the turning of garbage into manure starts. It takes around three months for the garbage to turn into manure, which we then sell to parks and households at a reasonable price. Although making money is not our aim,” adds Talwar.
Monthly collection fee from the residents supports the salary of 30 waste collectors and their helpers. The waste collectors earn an additional income by selling valuable dry waste to kabadiwalas. The whole exercise has led to the least amount of waste being actually dumped into the dhalao, the MCD garbage dump. The initiative has made an impact.
The strength of the initiative lies in the active involvement of the RWA members who keep a strict vigil on waste collectors. Besides, the full cooperation of the residents who are educated through meetings and distribution of information material contributed hugely in achieving success so far.
“The initiation of a zero-waste zone has encouraged the community to manage biodegradable waste by composting it within its colony. Also, monthly collection fee from the residents supports the salary of waste collectors,” says Talwar.
This initiative has to a great extent helped in reducing dependence on MCD dhalaos, leading to lesser waste from the locality ending up in landfills. According to Talwar, earlier the dhalaos and the MCD bins overflowed with garbage.
The MCD would clean the dhalaos and the bins and transport the garbage to the landfill daily. With the start of the community initiative, the use of dhalaos has been greatly reduced. In fact, only the bins are used now, which means labour and transportation costs have reduced significantly.
Weekly meeting
To monitor their work and listen to their grievances, the RWA holds a weekly meeting with the 16 garbage collectors on Wednesday. The RWA is also working in close coordination with Daily Waste Management (DWM), a private company tasked by the municipality to take garbage from the dustbins to the landfill sites.
Recently, an awareness campaign was also started by the DWM in collaboration with the RWA to inform residents of the importance of using separate bins for segregation of biodegradable and non-biodegradable garbage.