|
|
| |
 |
| |
| Take
Action |
| |
1. Regular
Drives
Some suggested organising regular such drives. If such
drives are organised regularly (fortnightly was generally
favoured by all) it will help keep the place clean and
simultaneously educate the people to refuse plastic throwaway
items as far as possible.
2. Garbage Segregation & Collection
Getting people to segregate their waste and organising
separate collection of it, preferably door to door, should
definitely be the next step.
Village folk have been dealing with their own garbage
in the past without it being a problem to anyone. But
now that plastic has made inroads into almost every purchase
of ordinary householders, arrangements for collection
of non-biodegradable garbage have to be made by the authorities,
if the village is to be kept clean.
However, where building complexes are coming up, garbage
will need to be collected more frequently. Presently,
as there are no arrangements for collection of garbage,
the shops and establishments burn their waste late in
the evenings or dump it in gutters away from the building.
Setting up of compost tanks for biodegradable garbage
generated in the market area was widely favoured.
It was also generally remarked that there are very few
bins in villages for receiving garbage and arrangements
for collection of garbage are quite inadequate. Many villages
have no bins at all. Many people felt that the Panchayat
members should have a meeting with the villagers about
the garbage disposal problem so that they can work out
a system of collection of the plastic garbage which otherwise
cannot be disposed off in the village environs.
There is no proper garbage collection system in most or
practically all the villages. Lack of funds is the common
excuse given by the Panchayats. This matter needs to be
looked into by the Directorate of Panchayats and the Government.
It is noticed that wherever there are dustbins the surroundings
are littered with plastic waste. This is because garbage
collection is not in order. Cows and dogs find their way
here. The ultimate solution would be house-to-house garbage
collection (and no dustbins).
House-to-house garbage collection started by the Panjim
Municipality in Dona Paula has been found to be a great
success. The surroundings are clean. More importantly,
the bins are empty, hence the problem of stray dogs and
cattle frequenting the bins is done away with. People
are happy and content. Plastics are picked up on the 15th
and 30th of the month. This scheme should be started wherever
possible.
The Municipal and Panchayat authorities have put only
single dustbins and more so without any compartments.
This results in the mixing of plastic and non-plastic
waste, which further complicates the disposal process.
PLASTIC ONLY DUSTBINS will be definitely useful.
There is a need for a PLASTIC ONLY DUMP SITE for Bardez
Taluka as this will service the disposal from the residential
areas as well as the tourist belt.
Lastly, the segregation at source practice will have to
be promoted in all areas i.e. houses, schools, restaurants,
hospitals, shops etc. so that the plastic material does
not get mixed with the rest of the garbage.
More important, however, was the necessity expressed by
all that strong measures need to be taken to revamp the
present chaotic and unscientific arrangements made by
the municipality for disposal of waste that the cities
generate.
3. Garbage Management Committees
Garbage management committees have already been notified
by several Municipalities but they are yet to meet and
chalk out a waste management plan for their areas or zones.
Villages will continue to face the problems of plastic
disposal until the Garbage Management Committees of these
Panchayats are set up, meetings are held regularly and
a plan is drawn up for plastic collection as well as the
disposal. This has to be strictly monitored by the Block
Development Officer (BDO) as well as the Mamlatdar with
final scrutiny being done by the District Collector.
4. Tourism
The Tourism Department needs to address the issue of plastic
litter and disposal in tourist areas by getting the hoteliers,
shackowners, restaurant owners—besides the tour
operators—to share the responsibility for clean-up..
The beaches, in particular, need to have special dustbins
for plastic bottles and other plastic litter so that the
disposal can be quicker.
5. Plastic Bottles
All plastic bottles should have a buy-back scheme. Ragpickers
will then have an incentive to collecting the bottles.
General consensus was that all those using plastic bottles
or pouches should revert to glass bottles unless they
could provide proof of their capacity to handle plastic
empties.
6. Plastic Milk Bags
A lot of milk bags were strewn all over and collected
by our campaigners, though a "buy-back" scheme
existed for milk bags of the Goa Dairy. (In any event,
there is no such scheme for dairies from outside the state.)
Either this scheme is not well publicised or all cannot
benefit from it. Only a few milk booths have been authorised
to collect 100 empty milk bags in exchange for a packet
of milk and that too only on the 15th and 30th of the
month. The milk booths are opened only during the milk
collection time and not the whole day. This makes it very
inconvenient for people to manage to be there during that
time, or not very attractive for people to drive all the
way to this particular milk booth for one packet of milk.
It would be proper that this facility is made available
in all milk booths in Goa, the logistics to be worked
out by the Goa Dairy. The milk bags distributed by Goa
Dairy and other producers from outside Goa need to provide
a user friendly collection system for the used bags. But
it is best that Goa Dairy reverts to the glass milk bottle
which was used before.
7. Supermarkets and Shops
It was found that the 5 Supermarkets in Mapusa, for example,
do not give out plastic carry bags, however they are generating
the largest amount of plastic bags which are being used
for pre-packed commodities like pulses, grain and other
food items. This plastic needs to be returned to the Supermarkets
by the consumer on making the next purchase. The Supermarkets
need to have a basket-type container placed at the entrance
for the collection. Similar measures need to be taken
by Supermarkets in other cities.
Many shopkeepers have started dispensing plastic bags
that have been banned under the law. There was fear amongst
the shopkeepers when the Government had begun confiscating
these bags. The bags that were tucked away by them during
the period have begun to reappear. This is because there
is no enforcement now from the Government machinery in
spite of the law.
8. Sanitary Arrangements
The problem of people in villages, and some government
schools not having toilets has to be looked into on top
priority, to avoid people using plastic bags for this
purpose, and more importantly to avoid any epidemic breaking
out in these villages due to poor hygiene standards.
9. "Environment-Friendly" Plastic Bags
Plastic litter has found its way back into places that
had been cleaned during the campaign. These plastic bags,
white in colour, are not picked up by rag-pickers. This
goes to show that these bags are going to create the same
problem as the other bags below 20 microns. This matter
will need to be taken up with the Authorities urgently.
It was observed that manufacturers of plastic carry bags
have found a novel way of hoodwinking the enforcement
authorities. Bags with their surface bubbled or corrugated
are openly being sold by dealers. The idea behind the
bubbled/corrugated bag is to deceive the micrometer which
will show the thickness as 20-micron or more while the
effective thickness is much less than 20-micron. The small
scale industries association has confirmed this malpractice
and alleges that these bags are manufactured outside Goa
and are being marketed through local dealers. The Government
authorities should investigate into this matter and ban
such bags, as otherwise, the official ban on bags of less
than 20 microns will be ineffective.
It is observed that stamping of bags (recycled) by the
manufacturers is not being done as required under the
law, nor are the enforcement authorities under the District
Collector checking on this.
10. Solid Waste Management (SWM) Report
There is a need for the wide dissemination of the Report
on Solid Waste Management in the State of Goa (April 2000)
prepared by the committee constituted by the Govt. of
Goa and circulated by the Directorate of Municipal Administration.
This report will give citizens an understanding of the
problems linked to the State Government plans as well
as those of the Panchayats and Municipalities for garbage
collection and disposal.
11. BAN PLASTIC BAGS
Some people however were not in favour of picking up plastic
as they were of the opinion that even if they pick plastic
now it will come back the very next day. Hence what they
need is dustbins in every ward. Besides it is a common
practice that before every festival people in the village
clean the open spaces, collects the garbage and litter
and burn it.
They also believe that the cities use a lot of plastic
and if it is banned there, then a lot of problems will
be solved. It seems to be a problem that the panchayats
and others are finding it difficult to handle given all
their abilities and hence demanding help of a ban an upward-down
force. Not only panch members but also the teachers, the
members of various clubs and villagers who give painful
accounts of what they have to go through.
All the people are convinced that there should be a total
ban on plastic bags. But the story does not end here.
People are co-operative but more response is expected
from the authorities. The Municipal authorities should
implement house to house collection. The Govt. should
bring about total ban on plastic simultaneously. The nallahs
need total cleaning.
Speaking to some shopkeepers as to whether they find people
carrying their own bags or refusing plastic bags, they
say that people demand plastic bags and sometimes create
a scene if not given to them. The only solution they felt
was to BAN THE USE OF PLASTIC BAGS. |
|
|
|
|
|
SHARE
4 NATURE
|
|
|
| - Wild Fact |
| - Green Tip |
| - Quiz |
| - Atricle |
| - Campaign |
| - Wild Photos |
| - Your Experience |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
