Same Wavelength ?
-------------------------
Hindustan Times ( 02 May 2017 ) carries following news
report :
“
Recycle waste , save Rs 1,854 crore “
When
you don’t recycle waste, you cost the
state Rs1,854 crore a year.
The
government spends Rs 905 crore a year just to collect waste from
Mumbai homes and transport it to a dumping ground .
At
the Transform Maharashtra conclave on Monday, students from the Tata Institute
of Social Science (TISS) showed just how costly the city’s waste issue
is, and suggested giving
citizens incentives to start recycling their waste at
the source.
The
team of five students said incentives could include relaxation of property tax paid by households and restaurants, cheaper electricity
bills and bio gas to households based on how much waste they
segregate.
Another
solution they proposed was a machine that will eat up plastic and glass bottles and cans and dispense cash in return
— an idea CM Devendra Fadnavis appreciated.
These
‘Reverse Vending Machines’ will accept PET/glass/cans from users and return
cash.
To
integrate waste pickers,
the participants suggested a monetary award for workers who segregate the most waste .
The team highlighted that they found policies were based on wrong perceptions:
“As opposed to perception, urban areas generate more waste than
slums.”
Congratulations , TISS students !
I am
glad that , at age of 84 , I was able to “ sync “ with you , in my following
blog :
Wednesday, 27 April 2016
Disposal of garbage ( wet and dry ), is a big problem
for all Municipalities
In Mumbai , it is a daily 8,000 ton problem
Despite a large fleet of garbage collection trucks and
thousands of municipal employees ( including employees of contractors ),
streets remain littered and garbage dumps keep overflowing ( when not burning !
)
All kinds of solutions have been attempted in the past
to solve this problem, without much success
This is because current perception of the garbage
generating households ( and of the office bearers of the housing societies ),
is :
“ Garbage
collection / disposal is Municipality's responsibility “
This problem will persist till we succeed in changing
this perception to :
" Garbage
disposal is our responsibility "
This change of attitude can be brought about by "
incentivizing " the members of the
Housing Societies
Here is how :
The society where I live (Marol / Mumbai) has 200
Members ( flats )
Each member pays monthly Municipal Tax of ( approx ) ,
Rs 600
That translates to Rs 1.2 lakh per month ( Rs 14.4
lakh / year )
In 5 years , Society pays to Municipality, Rs 72 lakhs
Govt / Municipality to make it compulsory for each big
society ( size to be decided ), to install on its premises :
Methane
gas generating plant or Compost Fertilizer plant
( to take
care of wet / organic garbage )
Water recycling plant ( to filter and
reuse water from shower / wash
basin / kitchen
sink for toilet flushing purpose )
A
Compacting Press for dry waste ( paper / bags / cartons etc )
Towards installation of such plants , Municipality to
give a discount of 25 % to the Society in
monthly taxes , for a period of 5 years
That is a rebate of Rs 150 / month / flat for 5 years
This would work out to a saving of Rs 18 lakh ( 25 %
of Rs 72 lakh )
This amount should be sufficient for the Society to
invest in these plants and for paying wages for persons needed to look after
their operations
I believe such a positive
incentive will motivate most of the Societies to undertake to install
such facilities
As a negative
incentive , Govt / Municipality should levy additional surcharge of 25 % on the monthly taxes ( ie raise to
Rs 750 / month in our case ) to those societies which fail to implement this
scheme within ONE YEAR of notification
It is high time citizens are involved and motivated (
through negative as well as positive incentives ) in keeping their cities clean
and its environment pleasant
RELATED READINGS
FOR TISS STUDENTS :
Garbage
is Green Gold ( 10 Sept 2016 )
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Discourage
Plastics : Encourage Greed ( 21 March
2016 )
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Plastic
Skyscrapers ? ( 15 March 2017 )
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Not
so far fetched , after all ! ( 02 Feb 2017 )
03
May 2017
www.hemenparekh.in / blogs
No comments:
Post a Comment