Bengaluru: The High Court’s directions on the ‘2 Bins, 1 Bag’ disposal method is a big victory for citizen welfare groups in the city. In 2012, various groups came together to formulate the ‘2 Bins, 1 Bag’ campaign. Initially, the campaign kicked-off in Bellandur, thanks to the combined efforts of Kasa Mukta Bellandur and the Solid Waste Management Round Table. Today, more than 1 lakh households have adopted the method, while about 1,000 houses are switching to ‘2 Bins, 1 Bag’ every day.
But though the court has mandated the three-way segregation, is the city ready to accept this method, especially at a time when the BBMP is propagating two-way segregation?
“We follow traffic signal lights. So why not follow the colour-coded segregation which is simple enough even for a three-year-old to understand?” asks Lalitha Mondreti, a member of Kasa Mukta Bellandur. Lalitha particularly points out that the BBMP’s campaigns are a hindrance and will even destroy the idea of ‘2 Bins, 1 Bag’, if it promotes two-way segregation.
“There will be no end to landfills if the city segregates only wet and dry waste. Where will the sanitary waste be treated? It can’t go to the wet waste plants and can’t be treated at dry waste collection centres. The BBMP has to change its ways of creating awareness,” she adds.
While there’s still a long way to go for the city in adopting this method, the High Court mandate is a first step in the right direction, observes Archana Kashyap, another advocate of ‘2 Bins, 1 Bag’.
“Colour-coded segregation is easier to understand for the citizens and simpler to adopt. What we eat goes to the Green Bin, what we don’t eat and which can be recycled goes to the Bag and what’s leaking or broken goes to the Red Bin. Earlier, different citizen groups embraced this method, now we’ve other cities emulating this method. We are in the right direction,” she observes. Citizens can buy the bins and bags from vendors, online grocery stores and from NGOs promoting 2 Bins, 1 Bag.
How the segregation works
- Apart from residents of individual homes and apartment complexes, government offices, educational institutions and other garbage generators must dump wet waste in Green Bins, which should be handed over to the pourakarmikas and it will be carried to the garbage processing plants set up by the BBMP.
- Sanitary waste, napkins, diapers, condoms, nails, medicinal waste like medicines and injection syringes should be dumped in Red Bins, which will taken to the incinerators.
- Wastes like papers, plastics, wrappers, milk covers, glass pieces, broken bottles and coconut shells should be handed over to the pourakarmikas, who will take them to the dry waste collection centres in their wards.
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