MLA, residents unite to make Jayanagar zero-waste

With an aim to make the Jayanagar Assembly constituency a zero waste-producing area, its MLA Sowmya Reddy on Monday launched ‘Project Jayanagar’ and rolled out ward-wise micro plans for easy garbage segregation.

The MLA said the first move is solid waste segregation. “My objective was to make Jayanagar and subsequently the entire city a zero waste-producing city.

“To begin with, we will stay focused on the management and segregation of solid waste. The initiative will help residents treat the waste locally, besides educating them to minimise the waste generated on a daily basis at home,” she explained.

Pandemic no excuse

Ever since the pandemic broke out, the waste disposed of in her constituency has increased, the Jayanagar MLA said.

“However, we can no longer have Covid-19 as an excuse to segregate waste and it is time we take action,” she said.

Enthusiastic response

Residents have responded with enthusiasm.

Speaking to DH, Shwetha, a resident of Jayanagar and a member of ‘Wow Women’, a voluntary group to educate residents on waste management, said: “We want Jayanagar to be a zero waste-producing area with waste collection reaching 100%.”

Residents present at the meeting complained about several uncleared blackspots in the constituency.

When DH asked why the blackspots in Jayanagar were not included in #Clearn100 challenge for Swachh Survekshan, BBMP Joint Commissioner for solid waste management (SWM) Sarfaraz Khan said: “Initially, only the legacy blackspots had been identified and categorised out of 2,800 blackspots in the city.”

After the identification, the number of blackspots has come down to 1,000.

“Now that the residents and the MLA have identified these many blackspots, we will include them in the 100 blackspots identified by the BBMP,” Khan said.