The city may be looking a lot cleaner than it did a couple of years ago, but schools under the city Corporation are not sure about how to manage their waste.
The civic body, schools say, has not provided them any facilities for managing their waste. “Earlier, they would cart away the waste for some payment, but now the Corporation does not do so,” say the authorities of a school in the Fort area. Segregation is the first step in waste management but is rarely implemented. All waste is usually dumped together in a pit, often in some corner or behind school buildings. It is regularly burnt too. Some of the organic waste finds its way under trees and plants.
Schools with ample grounds routinely make do with such practices, but those with little land are left grappling with mounds of waste, says a teacher in a boys’ school.
Since schools provide lunch to students, food leftovers need to be disposed of, as also vegetable peels. Some schools have aerobic bins and biogas plants, but they may not always function properly as is the case in a boys’ school near East Fort. All the waste lying around is an eyesore, not to mention that it attracts pests, schools complain. “Non-functional incinerators for destroying sanitary napkins are adding to our woes,” says the head teacher of a school. Used milk sachets are yet another problem faced by schools. The amount of plastic waste has come down considerably in schools, but in a girls school in the heart of the city, the amount of plastic generated on days when public examinations are held is substantial.
Canine problem
Schools near residential areas complain that waste collected on street corners is dragged by canines to their gates at night. “The Corporation and the councillor have been informed, and we are awaiting action,” say authorities at a Karamana school. Some teachers also allege that Corporation workers burn plastic and other waste near school premises.
Civic authorities alone cannot be held responsible, some teachers say. School staff have to take the initiative for managing as much waste as possible. Students, they argue, will not be serious about waste management if they don’t see it being practised in their own institutions.
