Garbade disposal: Onus on residents also

KOCHI: Throwing of waste dumped in plastic covers on waysides and vacant plots can be prevented only if a proper waste management system is in place. The corporation’s door-to-door service to clear waste from each house and the distribution of coloured baskets for waste segregation - green for bio-degradable waste and white for non-biodegradable - needs beefing up.Baskets are not being distributed and it is difficult to get people for waste clearance from houses, said some residents’ association members. Residents without baskets and those with broken ones,put waste in plastic covers and leave it by the gate since the collectors  do not have a time schedule.“Since they come at their convenience we put the waste in plastic covers and leave it outside the gate. And who knows whether it is being taken to the treatment plant or dumped somewhere,” said a resident on Diwan’s Road.“We enquired about the baskets but were told that stocks are over,” said some men in Edappally. Same is the case in many parts of the city.“The baskets were distributed under the waste management of Kerala Sustainable Urban Development project during the last Council’s tenure to create awareness on waste segregation and the need for public participation. This was not a permanent arrangement,” said.TK Asraf, Corporation Health Standing Committee chairman.“The majority of the residents associations suffer from poor waste clearance and many homes do not have green and white buckets. Things are better in our residents association, T D West Citizen’s Forum (TDWCF). Collection is prompt. Garbage is even converted into biogas and manure. I make manure from the waste. Each resident should take up the responsibility of waste management.Awareness should be created on putting waste to use. As for plastic waste, the Corporation should make arrangements to collect it and treat it,” said Rangadasa Prabhu, president,TDWCF and Ernakulam District Residents Association Apex Council.