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
o
( to
take care of wet / organic garbage )
·
Water recycling plant ( to filter and reuse water from
shower / wash
o
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 :
·
Garbageis Green Gold ( 10
Sept 2016 )
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
·
Discourage Plastics : Encourage Greed ( 21
March 2016 )
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
·
Plastic Skyscrapers ? ( 15
March 2017 )
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·
Notso far fetched , after all ! ( 02
Feb 2017 )
03
May 2017
www.hemenparekh.in
/ blogs
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