I went or to glorify it as I visited Jawaharnagar dumpyard, one of the biggest dumpyards in India with priya, who is a reporter in the Hindu. My imagination of the place was that there might be some treatment as it is only 3 to 4 years old dumpyard. But to my surprise or say shock, I never imagined that there could be so much waste being generated only in Hyderabad. It looked like it is the waste generated by complete world. No doubt that if we collect the waste generated by all the waste around the world we could spread it for a road to moon. 3000 tons of waste ia generated everyday as said by authorities which is a definitive false figure as stated by the NGO Sukuki exenora.An average of close to half a kilogram of waste is generated by a household which makes the figure bigger than 3000 tons says a professional from Sukuki exenora.
The soil is not treated nor is there any segregation of wastes that is done. The only segregation of waste that is done is by rag pickers, who strive day in and day out to make their livelihood out of the waste. The ideal solution for a gigantic problem like this is not a posh landfills with golf course on top but solving it at source level by segregating the waste into recyclable and compost able wastes right from home. As long as there is no awareness on decreasing the waste that is produced, trying to solve the problem at the end by using high technology is itself trash. This solution is time taking and need lot of community involvement, But on brighter side what this city lacks is community involvement and it could be achieved by combining many programmes and giving incentives like tax reductions to the residents.
Composting can also be started in villages by community involvement, especially by forming women self help groups who are the most vulnerable. Composting will provide a steady and sustaining income. Providing false hopes of good lives and shifting the people from villages to city is not a sustainable solution. Once the plan is implemented in villages through which money can be raised for them to sustain, giving it to trust able NGO's for their maintenance can be done. A similar process cannot be implemented in city as it will only be peanuts of money for city dwellers so a considerable tax deductions or discounted electric and water supply for communities which compost may attract few. And also if the vegetable waste from the vegetable markets and parks is collected directly as it is complete segregated waste useful for compost,the money generated can be used back in providing better facilities.
If we see the indirect savings there will be a lot of saving of fuel charges for transportation of waste to dumpyard and will also generate employment for lot of people who can stop rag picking and can make a living out of collecting the waste in rickshaws in the morning and composting in the evening.
Most of the above views are of many people including me, the major of exenora, Priya from The Hindu and Ravinder, The supervisor of jawaharnagar dumpyard.
