Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (Clean India Campaign) on 2nd Oct, Mahatma Gandhi’s birth anniversary last week, reports The Hindustan Times.
In Delhi, cabinet ministers to politicians, bureaucrats to clerks and even top cops took part in this cleaning drive. In addition, the drive saw civic agencies launching extended cleaning efforts of the streets, drains, public toilets and parks across Delhi.
Delhi generates 9,000 tons of garbage every day and the 2,500-odd community bins are already overflowing. By 2021, the city’s daily garbage load will touch 15,000 tons.
In fact, Delhi needs an additional area of 28 sq km to accommodate this heap waste. The existing landfills on the city’s borders are experiencing landslides due to overflow. Moving to alternative sites has environmental issues as well.
The ongoing Clean India Campaign needs an integrated effective recycling plan to reduce the quantity of waste going into the landfills. Recycling and composting of biodegradable garbage is the best option but civic bodies have not yet outlined any clear strategy for its developments.
Experts say that over 50 percent of Delhi’s waste is suitable for composting, 30 percent is recyclable and the remaining 20 percent should reach landfills. However, with no proper segregation process adopted, the dumping sites get loaded.
At first, corporations have to ensure effective waste collection system from homes for proper segregation and trash pickups should have separate containers for dry and wet waste. Only 15percent of Delhi has employed formal door-to-door garbage collection.
Since the early 2000s, segregation laws for mandatory waste collection for each household have been implemented. From 2003-06, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi held workshops to promote this drive and later sent a Bill specifying fines to the Delhi government for approval.
Currently, the rules of Management of Solid Waste are under revision by the Union environment ministry.
With the PM’s mandate, the civic agencies should now push for laws making recycling mandatory for residents. Clean India is an opportunity to safeguard rag pickers against health hazards and include them in an institutional framework of garbage management.