Workshop on decentralised waste disposal

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Industries Minister P K Kunhalikutty inaugurated the one-day workshop on ‘Decentralised waste disposal’ organised by the Suchitwa Mission for municipal chairmen at the Government Guest House, Thycaud here on Monday. Panchayat Minister M K Muneer presided over the function.   At the function, Mayor K Chandrika said that Malayalis lacked social hygiene though they deftly followed personal hygiene. She said that people had no hesitation in dumping heaps of garbage wrapped in plastic kits and sacks to the streets. She called to curb this practise through devising a strong programme by the government. She also underlined the need to create a  mandate at the government-level in implementing better plastic recycling.   “With plastic bags still very much in circulation, a severe problem was being faced in the disposal of solid waste. Plastic must therefore be banned in the state”, she added.  Prasanna Ernest, Mayor of Kollam Corporation, said that the Corporation is planning to install cameras near waste dumping points to trace the litterbugs with the help of night squad and police. She said that the Corporation was facing a menace of managing 110 tonnes of garbage. ‘’The disposal of the garbage at the source itself needs to be considered in the backdrop of this situation,’’ she said.   “Even people who own 10 to 15 cents of land throw waste into the streets and open drains,” she pointed out. The Corporation with 75,000 families will try to set up maximum number of biogas plants on the premises of homes, she said.    At the same time, Mayor of Calicut Corporation, A K Premajam, said that the Corporation lacked sufficient funds for proper waste disposal. “Three more panchayats had been added to the Corporation and the total area has now increased to 128 square kilometres. The Corporation is into its 50th year and sadly it is in the grip of plastic menace. The sides of major thoroughfares are littered  with garbage,” she said. Premajam also pointed out that it was difficult to create landfill sites owing to protests from people.    James Varghese presented the approach paper for waste disposal in the state.Recommendations for Waste DisposalLater on, in a discussion, Mayors and Municipal Chairmen made various suggestions to tackle the garbage menace in the state. With a call to ban plastic completely, the discussion  demanded that an extensive public health law should be formulated in the State. The need for implementing an ‘extensive producer responsibility’ to take back all inorganic garbage, including plastic by the producers themselves was recommended.    Creation of buffer zones around waste disposal plants and regulating construction activities on the premises too were the other recommendations made. To punish those who do not dispose waste materials in a scientific way, such as litterbugs and those who threw waste out of chicken stalls, the discussion demanded the implementation of stringent laws to tackle the issue.    It was also recommended that the government should completely bear the cost for waste-disposal plants and Corporations be given the right to appoint employees to dispose waste materials in municipalities. The need to arrange NABARD assistance in waste disposal too was raised in the discussion. Providing police assistance to take action against litterbugs, creation of laws to control garbage deposit by homes and institutions into the open drains and the provision of police assistance to take action against litterbugs too formed part of the recommendations.