Garbage mantra: Segregate waste at source

By Gaurav Pandey, Sumit Dasgupta and Vrinda Sharma

Last updated on 2.30 pm, Nov 7, 2007

CHENNAI: “Neel Metal Fanalca squanders about 1500 tonnes of garbage collected everyday, which can be used as compost,” said Founder and Chairman, Exnora International, M. B Nirmal.
He added that the city was full of unattended non-biodegradable waste despite there being companies like Futura, which carry out plastic disposal. Nirmal said that Fanalca was dumping garbage without segregation in Perungudi, Kodungaiyur and Athipattu areas where it has been lying for months. Pallikaranai, in Perungudi, a 3000 acre marshland, has been reduced to 400 acres since Fanalca continues to burn garbage as a quick-fix solution.
Nirmal pointed out that the daily burning of garbage could cause severe respiratory problems to people residing in the nearby areas. He said that measures to mitigate this issue would be to increase awareness about the importance of segregation and government measures to ensure proper waste disposal by companies.
The Municipal Corporation's plan to segregate garbage at the compost site is impractical, according to Nirmal. “Segregation of waste into biodegradable and non-biodegradable at the source is the most important thing people need to keep in mind,” he added. The Exnora group, along with the Corporation, has come up with Home Exnora Yoga, which encourages composting of biodegradable waste at home, and sending non-biodegradable waste such as plastic, glass and metal to local recycling centres. Nirmal added that this project could be used not only in homes but also in offices, schools, colleges and cars. Murugamma Parvati, who runs a small waste collection shop, said that the public refused to segregate their garbage, which then had to be done at the shops.
Rag pickers do a good job of collecting waste, said Nirmal. He added that there had been demands from organisations such as Exnora to give them identity cards so that the government would recognise their efforts.