Lessons for the young

While Bangaloreans are still struggling to segregate garbage, some of the schools in the City have adopted their own means of garbage segregation and controlling the outbreak of dengue.

Efforts are being made by some school managements to inculcate in children the importance of garbage segregation and the need to keep the environment clean.
Metrolife visited some of the schools across the City and found out that garbage segregation is being done rather seriously there. Some of the prominent schools have four separate bins — plastic, dry, wet and foil. Some other schools make provisions within the school such as making small pits and burning all the dry waste at the end of the month or collecting the dry waste and handing it over to an NGO, who in turn converts it into something usable. 

The Vidya Niketan School in Hebbal has invested in vermiculture and a sewage treatment plant on the campus. Talking about the waste segregation initiatives in school, Hansa Vithani, director, says, “There are four separate bins. The wet waste is turned into compost. There’s a mosquito repellent in every classroom and we fumigate the campus once a week when the children are away, just to keep the mosquitos at bay. We started garbage segregation almost five years ago.”

St John’s High School on St John’s Church Road has three bins in every block. The students are taught to segregate waste as plastic, wet and dry waste. Arul, who is in charge of transport says, “We will soon purchase a garbage converter estimated to cost Rs seven and half lakh. The wet waste is converted and the compost will be used as manure for the plants on campus.”

“To prevent the outbreak of dengue, in addition to mosquito repellents in all classrooms, we have also got meshes for windows in all classrooms. The fumigation is done on weekends, after school hours, when the children are not on campus,” he adds.
Tejaswi Bellary, principal of Poorna Prajna Education Centre near Kothanur, says managing garbage in school is an issue.

“The wet waste is disposed off and the papers are gathered and filled into a pit on the campus. We burn the dry waste, which includes paper and dried leaves once a month,” informs Tejaswi.

The stench from an open drain, located near the National Public School in Koramangala, close to the National Games Village complex, is unbearable but the school has effectively managed its garbage problem.

Lakshmi Rao, the principal of the school says, “The wet waste is treated and made into compost and the dry waste is collected and handed over to an NGO, who makes recycled notepads and other stationary, which we use on campus.”

She adds, “The children are told the importance of waste segregation and to practise the same at home.”  The students and parents are happy that school managements have taken the initiative to train and tutor children on the importance of waste management. Latha Srinivasan, a parent says, “We’re happy that my son, who is in class eight, knows what waste management is. He practises the same at home and doesn’t litter the place.”

Andrew K Jose, a student says, “There are separate bins for dry and wet waste in school and we are constantly trained to use them and not throw waste arounds. Invariably, we end up following the same at home. At a time when there is so much garbage in the City, this training is beneficial.”