We all
are very much aware of the current situation of India in Producing waste and on
top of that Handling waste. If not, then just go near a municipal bin you have
in your locality and look at it .What do you see ? Certainly you don't even want
to recognize your own waste there because the smell and
the scenery so awful that it just blows up your mind. The picture here is of a
municipal bin in our locality. This is what we have contributed in merely one
or two days of our survival. On an average rate each household in India
produces nearly 200-870 grams/day of waste. A total of 1,33,760
tonnes per day (TPD) of garbage was generated in all states and union
territories of India.
Now
just imagine what happens when these municipal bins from multiple societies are
emptied on the lands...Can you??
 |
| Community Bin Near Gole Ka Mandir , Gwalior |
Even with this huge amount, it’s not the amount of waste generated that’s as much of an issue as the fact that more than 45 million tonnes of garbage is left untreated and disposed of by municipal authorities everyday in an unhygienic manner leading to health issues and environmental degradation. These 3 million trucks, if laid end to end, would cover half the distance between the earth and the moon. Or to put it another way, that’s the distance you would cover if you made 15 trips between Mumbai and Los Angeles.
As
prosperity grows, 62 million tonnes of garbage is generated everyday by the 377
million people living in urban India, now the world’s third-largest garbage
generator.
Only 28%
of garbage is treated of the 68% of the total garbage generated in the
country is collected. Thus, the poor collection and treatment of waste
leads to dumped garbage on streets clearly shows the inefficiency of our system
available to tackle waste management in urban areas. If this issue is not
tackled efficiently and better policies, practices and attitude for waste
management are not adopted, the total waste generation is estimated to
be 165 million tonnes by 2031 and 436 million tonnes by 2050.
Among
192 countries disposing their waste at coastlines, researchers have quantified
the amount of plastic entering oceans. India is 12th in the list of
top 20 countries notorious for disbursing the maximum amount of plastic waste
into the high seas from their respective coastlines.
Thunderstruck!!
Are you?? Well, cleaning the streets can't solely solve the problems created by
waste; we need to think wisely before we throw something in a dustbin (or on
street).
Let’s
think about this before taking selfies at Swacch Bharat week and take our
responsibility as an intellectual citizen throughout the year, just like we did
at the eve of Ganesh Chaturthi, Diwali or Id.