Segregation of waste at source seems to be taking off at the three residential townships of Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL).
After segregation of waste became mandatory, HAL changed its garbage tenders to include segregation and safe disposal of waste, making it probably the first public sector unit in the city to take such an initiative.
Earlier this month, Hasiru Dala, a non-governmental organisation that offers waste management solutions, bagged the tender and has been helping citizens better understand the modalities.
According to Nalini Shekar from Hasiru Dala, around 3,500 households in Old Township, Central Township and GBJ Township have been segregating waste into wet, dry, sanitary & rejects since January 2. “We provided awareness material, made audio announcements about segregation and even conducted door-to-door drives before we began collecting segregated waste. The residents have welcomed the idea,” she said.
She also said that Hasiru Dala had tied up with a private company for safe disposal of medical and sanitary waste. “Just around one per cent of the waste generated, which is rejects, goes to the landfill,” she added.
S. Kumara, HAL Colony Committee member, said that there has been a lot of improvement and change in the residents’ attitude over the past few days.
“We want to improve on this. We hope to use the compost generated from our waste in HAL’s parks. We have already shared our views with HAL’s Facility Management Department, which maintains the townships, and suggested coordinating with the in-house horticulture department,” he said.
