A solid waste management (SWM) expert has called for factoring in the city’s growth while planning SWM as growth or higher income tends to increase waste generation. Expert Vasuki said Bengaluru was an example of how things can go wrong when city planners fail to anticipate higher growth rate with higher garbage generation and plan for it adequately.
Making a presentation during an interaction programme on Monday, Mr. Vasuki said Mysuru urban planners should anticipate the city’s growth and plan for a time horizon of 30 years or more. He said solid waste management has a direct bearing on the public’s health as also a city’s economy with a direct bearing on the tourism sector. “If the heritage city of Mysuru was clean with no garbage, then it will shore up tourism industry but the converse is also true,” he said citing the example of Thailand where the tourism industry gathered steam after an efficient SWM structure was put in place.
Taking note of the practice of burning garbage in open places, Mr. Vasuki said this pollutes the air and causes asthma. Though there was a SWM system in place in the city, the collection system was not working well as it was evident in the garbage strewn in public places, he added. Mr. Vasuki said there was a negative mindset in the government and among the NGOs about the concept of landfill owing to a fear of groundwater contamination and air pollution but, there were proven technologies to handle them. The gas generated in landfills could be collected to generate electricity to power at least 10,000 homes, he said.
Vasu, Chamaraja MLA, said a team would be constituted to study the SWM issue of Mysuru.
