Interview with Mr. Waste - The Prologue

Dear Reader,

This is a classified interview with Mr. Waste that I came across, which i am slipping in the blog. It was burried deep down so that you guys do not learn the truth about Mr. Waste, which is being projected as Villan these days, but infact as the interview reveals - our Mr. Waste was destined to be a hero. I don't know how long this interview would be online - so if you have come across it.. pass it on..

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The interview: From repoters diary...

The interview is being done on some undisclosed location near the Solid Landfill site near Pirana. Mr. Waste was very specific about the secrecy of the talks... so there were no lights and the crew was specificially told not to take any photographs or shoot any video. As the crew moved to the location... passing mountains and mountains of waste... in a small valley.. a figure emerged.. filthy, smelly and not at all like that of an Hero at all.

Repoter: So.. we are being told that we are going to interview a Hero.. but you

dont seem like one....

Mr. Waste: "Either one Dies a Hero, or one Lives long enough so see oneself become a Villan"

(This one line from Mr. Waste summarized his entire story)

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To be continued......

Democracy - Your choice to have a clean city or not

Dear Reader,

A Muncipal Corporation maintains the city through taxes. Logically tax for x service, make that service better, but when a clean city is demanded by the residents - it becomes imperative to ask does the corporation collect tax for cleanliness, better environment, clean streets, clean roads etc and even if in some case it may collect then whether it is sufficient for the city or not.

It is reported that India recycles 60% of its plastic, which may be a wonder to you - eventhough this figure would be reducing every day as we use plastic more and more, we hardly see a complete parallel municipal corporation running along our streets which are responsible for recycling majority of this plastic. This municipal corporation does not depend on our taxes, but is a self sustained enterprise (no matter how we see them), a far more gracious process. This corporation is made of rag pickers, radiwalas, recyclers etc, whose bread and butter is depended on our waste. The entire thing is well evident, but we barely ackknowledge it.

On the other side, the funds spend by the exisitng municipal corporation on "Clean City, Green City" hordings if diverted to more productive use may actually make our city atleast bit more greener.

As democracy give every citizen a right to select their leader, democracy also gives you the right to select the process which would be in a better position to keep your city clean and green.

So can we make a choice - A self sustained process or a tax dependent system to keep our city clean and green

Let us have a Green Event

Dear Reader,

Have we ever noticed how much of a waste lover we are. Recently the marriage season has got completed and everyone us would have been to one or other occasion. If we observe, it would be worth seeing how much of plastic and other waste we generate during these functions without ever feeling even a pinch of guilt about it. Even if any one of us intends to change the way the waste is generated there is a sense of complete helplessness about it. Neither of the agency involved in the occasion is ready to take the responsibility for the waste, which is collectivley transferred to the muncipial corporation.

In developed countries like Aus, US and other places concept of zero waste event is emerging, wherein the waste generated is very low and whatever is generated is recycled/reused. The catch is the the agency which manage zero waste event, charge a marginal amount for that.

Are we aready to pay that amount, which would ultimately end up saving water, energy, air etc. And if we are not able to pay for such zero waste event, then are we even aware enough to ask the agencies about their waste management practices - and select only those who are more environment friendly.

Going Green At womens day

Dear Reader,
First of all let me thank the girl for allowing me to photograph her, these are the sailent eco- warriors i would tell which keep saving the earth from the waste that we create every day.....
Yesterday was womens day, Now, what womens day has to do with going green. I may be worng but following points are definitely worth considering:
1. Majority of the rag pickers are women in a very small age group
2. The waste management in any household is a womens affair
3. Women hold a key to majority of buying decisions from vegetables, groccery etc.
Thus if even a 1% part of our womens polulation decide to reduce their solid waste by even 50% imagine the impact it would have on the environment, economy and society.
And there are number of way in which this targated solid waste can be reduced:
1. Composting kitchen waste into manure
2. Segregating plastic waste and bundling them separately
3. Reducing use of plastic bags for shoping, instead opting for paper bags
These are only few, but definitely actionable...

Design Thinking - Attached Waste Recycling area

Around 3 to 4 decades back, washing area, bathroom etc. which were outside our living space. The principle reason for this was to keep the filthy and dirty activities outside our living area. Cut to, when we look at our homes today, we may have not noticed, but all these activities have come inside the living area, with attached bathroom, washing machine etc. And it is worth noting that these are more cleaner than when they were outside. If we just sit back and ponder over the change that has taken place...we would really wonder how dramatic the change is.

Today solid waste is at the same juncture, we are accustomed to dispose waste outside our homes and are accustomed to mix our waste (green, plastic, paper). But I intend to argue that, as we have developed a concept of attached bathroom (not one but many), we can have an attached Waste Recycling Area, which would deal with waste segregation, organic waste recycling etc. These waste recycling area would have following:
1. Space for waste segregation (with specially designed bins which occupy minimum space).
2. Tools for organic waste recycling.

These recycling area can be a common facility for a community, office or at individual household level. Presently there are no technological hurdles in implementing the above concept, thus with enough drive, every community can be equipped with such attached recycling area.

Green Waste + Plastic = Economic and Envionmental Loss

Dear Friends,

Our use of plastic bag has increased greatly. Earlier we used to go with our own cloth bag for vegetable shopping, but today we are habituated to get a plastic bag from the vegetable vendor, and with more variety of vegetable - higher the numbers of bag. Similarly we get bags from grocery stores and other places - without our demanding for it - this plastic bag has become our part of life.

This plastic bag build up in our house has also - found new routes to its discard - There has been a growing practice of filling our daily garbage in these bags and dumping them. Some time the waste is loosely filled and some time waste is tightly bound.

Have we ever wondered that our practice of green waste disposal in plastic bag is posing the biggest environmental threat. Generally the green waste can be converted into manure and plastic can be recycled. But when our green waste is filled inside these bags, it neither leaves green waste useful nor plastic recyclable. As can be seen from the picture, even animals find it difficult to eat the green waste.

So, next time when we use plastic bag.. let us think our its ultimate fate and make sure it is eco-friendly.

Why my city is not Clean?

Dear Reader,

Since starting this project, lot of people come up to us and ask one thing and it has been repeating so badly that I thought lets get the secret out once and for all. In fact it is not secret it is Pandora's box. People come up to us and ask that I get my waste pick up very day, then way should I bother to dispose my waste more "Greenly".
I would try so answer these question in various part:

1. The first part is the price, if you are one of the guys who has same question, then try to workout how much you pay to get rid of your waste - Please try.....................OK, I give up...you cannot..so I would give u reference UK : Rs. 2000/month, US: $ 15/month. Details may vary from county to state. Now compare your cost with theirs. This is the fundamental reason why their cities seem clean than ours.

So if one is not ready to pay the price to green disposal, then one should don't complain about the dirty street and stinking dumpster. And by the way our research shows us that if we are aware enough that we can earn from your waste, Are You? ..take the "one day challenge"