CLEAN UP!
So what is the problem?

1. BANANASANDBATTERIESDON’TMIX.
Basic segregation has to be done at home, at least into dry and wet waste. We don’t have any system to do that - either at home or by the municipality.

2. HI-TECH ISEXPENSIVE
Private companies with hi-tech machines, obviously need larger quantities of waste. They would then look for a centralised system – increasing pollution and transport costs.

3. RICHWASTE, POORWASTE
Richer a country or household, more inorganic is the waste. Incinerate and you produce deadly dioxins as pollutants. In India and most other poor countries, over 55 per cent of waste is wet organic. So incinerators would need to mix coal to burn it efficiently, adding to costs. You would also need sufficient amounts.

4. POLLUTERMUSTPAY
Your Sunsilk Shampoo bottles need to be taken back by Hindustan Lever instead of you wondering what to do with it, and the ragpicker hunting through muck piles to get at it.

5. RIGHTSOVERGARBAGE
Waste is now more or less a common property resource for ragpickers, even though their rummaging in government landfills is illegal. With technology and privatisation, waste soon turns into private property for waste management companies. There are over 7,00,000 ragpickers in India today, Will even half of these get jobs?

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