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Innovative solutions to clean up Indian cities
Bangalore: An estimated 25,000 ragpickers operate, recovering 15 per cent of
the total waste. Most come from neighbouring states of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. NGO
programs, of doorstep collection of waste, employ ragpickers on regular salaries. REDS
(Ragpickers Education & Development Scheme) has a store where children can sell waste
paper directly to recyclers at a fair price. They have two shelters, housing 35 boys each.
The centre also runs classes on academic subjects to teach the boys how to read and write.
Source: Anjana
Iyer, Bangalore
Ragpickers get
organised. |
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Delhi: Spurred by the NGO Chintan, the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC)
decided to organise the rag pickers to not only do their work more effectively but also to
improve their quality of life. Efforts are on to help ragpickers access health facilities,
practice saving and micro-credit schemes, and learn of their rights in case of arrests.
Establishments in CP pay Rs 100 for hiring their services. Money generated goes to ward
the salaries of the ragpickers and the leftovers are kept in a kitty for maintainance and
equipment expenses. Resaturants pay extra.
Mussoorie: Vipin Kumar, a
senior school teacher has been running the Self Help Environment Programme (SHEP) for the
past several years. Fifty ragpickers work as a team under the SHEP. Almost all of them are
'ecological refugees' from Bihar, belonging to the Kewat community of fishermen who could
not afford to pay the revenue for fishing once all the rivers in the state were opened for
fishing.
Pune: Any one living in Pune can now just call the
Kagad-Kach-Patra-Kashtakari Panchayat, the association of ragpickers in Pune, who will
send a registered rag picker to your doorstep every morning between 7 and 10 am. For a
monthly fee of Rs 20 per home. Present estimates at the association suggest that 300
ragpickers are kept busy with 100 households each. However, considering that there are as
many as 4.600 registered ragpickers in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad, there is still a long
way to go.
Chennai: Narikkuravas is a nomadic tribe of Tamil Nadu. Most of these are
ragpickers, and shunned by society. Civic Exnora International, an NGO, was involved with
street beautification and the sheds of the narikkuravas came under their jurisdiction.
They joined in by collecting garbage from every street and began earning a monthly salary
of around Rs 1,000. |
Outside the heap: What you can do
 RECYCLE: Ideal for
paper, aluminium, tin and other non-hazardous metals; and glass. There is no such thing as
recycling plastic though, because each time you melt plastic to make something out of it,
you lose out on quality and finally end up with poly-bags that no one wants.
 RE-USE: Great for plastics. Instead of throwing away your plastic
bag or bottle, have you tried reusing it? If not as a bottle, try making a flower pot out
of it or a pencil stand. Don’t throw it out!
NOT
USE: If you try surely you can use
less of things that are meant to be thrown away after use? Instead of buying small
icecream cups seven times a week, why not buy a paper carton of icecream to last you a
week? Plus, some things are luxury. Can we try cutting down on them?
DOWN-SHIFT: This means moving away from money and shopping to value
of nature, time and quality.
SHARE: Start a
sharing club where things like leftover paints can be exchanged, tools and other equipment
can be shared. Car pool is also sharing.
HIRE: Companies
like Xerox hire out photocopiers that they then maintain. Air conditioners, cars, mobile
phones, everything can be hired. This is a form of sharing by paying.
GREEN
AND SMART SHOPPING: Go in for
environment friendly goods and packaging. You might need to pay a little more but that
helps you. Beware of false claims to eco-friendliness though. Use your head. Buy material
which lasts long and can be easily repaired.
COMPOST: Don’t throw out your wet waste. Compost it and use
it for your garden. |
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