Thiruvananthapuram: A stricter bylaw on solid waste management is in the works, and is likely to be ready by the council meeting in April. In order to monitor the work of waste management service providers, the Corporation will form a body. The bylaw will increase fines for littering, and specify bigger fines on plastic carry bags. The bylaw will address one of the greatest obstacles affecting the implementation of source-level waste management. While the details are still being worked out, it is learnt that the strategy is to offer an alternative means of employment to women who have been collecting waste from households.
“The women who collect waste can be trained to manage kitchen bins, and made a part of the Corporation’s kitchen bin project,” says an official. The women, employed by agencies which offer to process both organic and inorganic waste outside homes, have been caught littering on the roads. The women have been fined before but some of them are repeat offenders. Recently, Police charged 8 cases against these women from Rajaji Nagar, for dumping garbage bags from various apartments into the drainage. In Vanchiyoor, councillor P Babu had convened a meeting of garbage collecting women, to issue a warning.
Health Standing Committee Chairperson K Sreekumar told DC, “There will be a committee to monitor all solid waste management activities. In addition to monitoring the activities of various waste management service providers, the committee will also be responsible for the execution of the Corporation’s project to provide alternatives to plastic carry bags. The scope of work is now larger than what the Project Secretariat can handle, and such a committee is required. The bylaw will pertain to this.”
