Clean sweep: Women turn torchbearers of cleanliness campaign

The idiom “Cleanliness is next to Godliness” may have been overused for decades, but what it preaches still holds true. Production of Municipal Solid Waste or garbage has reached such phenomenal levels that landfill sites have started overflowing and cities like Delhi have no dumping grounds where they can send their trash. The “mountains of shame” are finally being flattened with the help of trommel machines and waste-to-energy plants.

If one looks at the Annual Report 2020-21 on Implementation of Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016 released by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), it can be seen that per capita waste generation has started decreasing in the past couple of years after peaking to 132.78 grams per day in 2016-17.

The total quantity of solid waste generated in the country is 1,60,038.9 tonnes per day (TPD) of which 1,52,749.5 TPD is collected by the civic agencies. While 79,956.3 TPD (50%) of the waste is treated, 29,427.2 TPD (18.4%) is sent to landfill sites, and 50,655.4 TPD, a whopping 31.7%, remains unaccounted for.

The maximum quantity of per capita solid waste is generated in Delhi, followed by Lakshadweep and Mizoram. The maximum percentage of solid waste treated was found to be in Chhattisgarh (100%), followed by Daman, Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli (88.76%), Goa (87.04%), Andaman and Nicobar Islands (84.7%) and Madhya Pradesh (80.67%).

PUTTING THE HOUSE IN ORDER

Community participation is a must if one is to rid their village, town, city and, eventually, the country of garbage. Trash strewn around sends an ugly picture to the outside world and clean public places are often a sight for sore eyes.

In the first-ever community powered step taken by the Indian Government, 17 lakh people from various cities across the country participated in a rally titled “Swachh Mashaal March” to raise awareness about garbage-free cities and conduct cleanliness drives and zero waste events on March 29, 30 and 31. The first Mashaal March was carried out on March 29, the eve of International Day of Zero Waste.

Calling for behavioural changes regarding Swachhata and commitment towards urban sanitation, lakhs of women changemakers participated in the rallies held in 3,000-plus cities and towns from Kashmir’s Baramulla to Madhyamgram and Ghatal cities of West Bengal, Mathura in Uttar Pradesh, Bhopal and Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh and Tiruvuru in Tamil Nadu to scale up the fight against garbage. The march was aimed at encouraging ward-level mobilisation of citizens towards the goal of “garbage-free cities”.

The past five years have seen an increasing trend in processing of solid waste wherein the figure has increased from 19% in 2015-16 to 49.96% in 2020-21. However, the challenge is segregation of garbage at source. If households religiously segregate wet and dry waste, then recycling and composting can be carried out without any extraordinary steps. The pressure on landfill sites can be reduced and wet waste can also be used by bio-methanation plants.

Another drawback is that while composting has been adopted by all States and Union Territories, waste-to-energy plants have been provided in only six States/UTs and bio-methanation plants have not been provided in 14 States/UTs.