Talking Trash-- CrusaderHerald (Goa) (India)November 27, 2011Panjim, Nov. 27 --
Managing waste is what he lives for, aconstant figure in the fight for acleaner
and greener Goa. Zarine Ahmed meets waste management expert Clinton VazT he
caller tells Clinton Vaz that a resident of the village has been caught
throwing garbage at a ' no garbage zone' at a side of a road. " We are waiting
for you here," he tells him. The caller, Rocky, informs him that the culprit,
living nearby has gone to bring labourers and bags to take back the garbage. "
As a penalty, he'll have to clean the entire stretch of the road, this is what
we practice here" reveals Clinton Vaz. Welcome to the near spotlessly clean
village of Benaulim, home to Goa's champion of garbage management. Often
spotted in tees and jeans and ankle boots, this soft spoken humble young man is
a qualified mechanical engineer who quit his job at Verna to study the garbage
scenario in detail. " Over the years, I've spoken to rag pi
ckers and larger recyclers to learn what items they collect, what monetary
value they offer in exchange and so on. I also learnt how to compost at a
course organised by Goa Foundation." Only in his early twenties then, Clinton
shot to fame a youth icon for his waste separation techniques, his brief stint
with CCP as a consultant and his visit to Copenhagen to attend a conference on
climate change in 2009. Today, he is a member of the state monitoring committee
for waste management and a private recycler. A strong advocate of separation of
waste at source to extensively ease the load of mixed waste going to landfill
sites, Clinton's work schedule starts at 8am and ends at 9pm, seven days a
week. A storehouse of information, Clinton reveals that Goa does not have a
single recycling unit and those that exist are merely collection points. He
offers simple solutions to people -- composting wet waste to obtain manure for
plants. One of the first to introduce balcony composting in
Goa, he reveals that today there are over18 variants of composting units of
which, three function at his well organised garden. Known for his dry waste
separation model, the colour coded recycling stations ( another concept
imported by him from his visits to Sweden) has seen a sporadic rise in their
demand amongst independent residences, hotels, housing societies even village
panchayats. " Up until now, we have installed 40 stations," he informs, adding,
" My dream is to make Goa ' zero waste' and I'm quite positive on this note.
People have started understanding the importance of waste separation and if
they don't have a garden, they opt for balcony gardens." 5 ways to make Goa '
zero waste'* Reactivate the sleeping garbage management committees in every
village panchayat and municipality.* Ensure that your entire village or
municipality starts a weekly or monthly door to door collection of only
separated dry waste.* Encourage composting at home level or backyard through su
bsidy schemes from the government* Support and upgrade the grey market ( scrap
dealers) recycling system.* Increase the direct involvement of generation next
( school children) in the fight against garbage menace. Published by HT
Syndication with permission from Herald Goa. For any query with respect to this
article or any other content requirement, please contact Editor
[email protected] 2011 Herald Publications Pvt.
Ltd.All Rights ReservedHerald (Goa) (India)
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