On Sat, 2012-09-01 at 08:09 +0200, Charles Haynes wrote: > At the source? Why is that? I've seen effective post-disposal > separation programs and that approach seems ideal for India where > there is an abundance of cheap labor.
No Charles. This is a Bangalore specific problem. So much garbage is generated that there is no place to take it for later segregation and no labor can be hired to separate rotten vegetables from plastics in some faraway place. Once it is taken away no one is bothered. Out of sight out of mind. The segregation labor is still entrusted to people who are called "rag pickers" whom I suspect belong to a particular caste or set of castes. No one wants to ask because nobody talks about caste nowadays as the system does not exist. Bangalore is divided up into "wards" or local zones. Several Bangalore wards have already successfully implemented a "segregation at home" strategy where plastic and paper are collected once a week by recyclers and wet garbage is collected every day to be composted in an area designated by it by the local government. This has reduced the volumes of garbage needing to be carted away and dumped by 80% from those 2 or 3 wards that have done it. Now for the remaining 150 odd wards... It is high time Bangaloreans need to understand that garbage is an individual responsibility and not someone else's problem. I am actually happy to see piles of stinking garbage building up. People need to swim in their garbage while blaming others until everyone understands. shiv
