Thanks to the absence of a scientific plastic waste treatment plant, residents are forced to wait for the mercy of collection agents from neighbouring States and pay them heavily to get rid of the burden.
As small quantities of non-degradable waste – mostly comprising plastic materials and broken electronic items – are hardly an attraction for agents from Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, residents’ associations now have to collect huge quantities of waste to be handed over to collection agents.
Also, there are instances when temporary collection points, where waste is segregated, are misused by some by dumping garbage, which results in the locations becoming permanent dumping points. Taking note of the trend, some residents are even unwilling to spare their open spaces for bulk collection of waste.
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Meanwhile, representatives of residents’ associations said a special fund was being voluntarily set apart every six months to meet waste collection expenses, as individual fund collection is not encouraged. Often, association members contribute some amount, mostly between Rs.50 and Rs.100 every six months, to get the maximum benefit out of the occasional service.
“If we had a standard treatment facility in our area, it would have been a big relief. People are badly in need of a large-scale plastic waste recycling plant, where they can clear stock at least once a week,” said B. Sudarsanan, a resident of Eranhipalam. He added that it was the absence of a dependable service that forced residents to set the stock on fire or dump it in abandoned areas.
Meantime, corporation officials maintained that they were on a mission to promote source-level treatment of all types of waste, as the idea of centralised waste processing would not be viable. All councillors are now busy communicating this message to their ward members as part of efforts to introduce new waste processing techniques, they added.
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“As many as six wards have already been shortlisted to be covered by the source-level waste treatment project, and in these wards, collection of bio-degradable waste by Kudumbasree units will be suspended. The plan is to encourage residents to take up the bacteria innoculum method and produce bio-fertilisers,” said Beena Rajan, councillor from East Hill. At the same time, she made it clear that there would be no change in the existing method of collecting waste, as residents would have to wait for at least six months to give the stock to agents assigned by the corporation.