Intro to Solid Waste Management

What is Garbage? Any item which has served its purpose or is of no use to humans is discarded in trash can. Normally we can find kitchen waste, expired medicines, dry waste and unused plastic in the trash. No wonder it is rightly called as ‘Use Me’ and we also use is ruthlessly. Did we ever think how we can make use of waste for good? No. Solid Waste Management comes in action for you. #SWM is collecting, treating and disposing of solid waste in a well managed way. Improper disposal of solid waste effects environment badly. It also leads to outbreak of vector- borne diseases – diseases spread by rodents and insects. To implement #SWM in our society, there are social, administrative and economic challenges to be handled first.

We have seen huge piles of garbage lying alongside the road or streets waiting for the Municipal garbage pickup van to arrive. Until it arrives it acts as a playground of street dogs that scatter the waste here and there. Why such a system exists in the first place? Why cannot we have our trash cans placed outside our door for the pickup van to collect one by one? Of course that will require a monthly fee by the authorities but if we can spend on expensive clothes, parties etc, then why we feel the pinch in paying for the trash pickup?

First and foremost step in #SWM is ‘Waste Segregation at Source’. It is my humble request to have at least 2 trash cans in your home - One for ‘dry waste’ and another for ‘wet waste’. Wet waste includes all kitchen waste such as vegetable peels, fruit peels, leftover food, tea leaves etc. The wet waste can be used to produce manure by the method of ‘Composting’ (I will explain about composting in my next post). All other waste excluding Kitchen waste is Dry waste. Even in dry waste, we can find articles which can be recycled. Finally the not recyclable articles is just waste which can be given to regular pickup.

I am looking for volunteers to stand up for the cause #SWABHIMAN and join me to educate people around us. If you agree with me and want to volunteer or contribute, leave your comments below or tweet using #BlogchatterProjects. Look forward to connect with like-minded people.