Garbage reincarnated!

One of the lessons the CMCA civic club members learn is how to segregate garbage. Of course, we have all heard of separating kitchen waste, plastic, paper, metals etc. But when it has to be actually put into practice, people hesitate because (a) old lazy habits die hard, and (b) people are not sure how to dispose of each of these categories. However, there is a practical solution for each of these categories of waste.
Kitchen waste can be converted into excellent compost for gardens or even potted plants in apartments. You get these pretty terracotta pots , 3 of them that sit one on top of the other. You dump the daily vegetable waste into the top one, and by a system of rotation all the 3 get filled up. By then, the bottom one is ready with the compost. You can see the details here
That leaves us with paper, metal and plastic. Paper is easy, we all give it to the raddiwalla, and it is the same with metal. But Plastic - well, the raddiwallas turn up their noses at plastic and most of them refuse to take it. So most of us just throw it out wrapped in a plastic garbage bag.
All of us see heaps of garbage stuffed into plastic bags, lying all over the city. Cows graze on this garbage, and sometimes ingest the plastic bag and die. There was a terrible case in Bangalore a few weeks ago during the monsoon, where a young girl died in a scooter accident because her scooter skidded on a heap of wet, slippery garbage full of plastic bags. Yet, people don't stop using these carry bags made of thin plastic. If each one of us can make it a habit to carry our own bag while shopping, half the problem would be solved. Yet, a considerable amount of plastic waste does get generated. What is the solution?
This is where plastic recycling comes in. We went to this amazing place the other day, where they actually convert plastic carry bags into granules that used as additives to tar and used for laying good strong roads. They collect the plastic garbage bags with the garbage intact, and take it to their factory. There, these bags are fed into a machine that separates the waste matter from the bag. The clean bag is ejected. The bags are separated according to the thickness, and fed into another machine that shreds them into tiny pieces. These pieces are fed into a third machine that converts them into granules that can be mixed with tar. According to the person at the factory, Bangalore now has more than a thousand kilometers of this plastic waste road. Their take on plastic: 'Plastic by itself is not bad: it is only the way people dispose of it that causes problems.'
Their suggestion to the schools: if each student of the school collects all plastic bags or covers or in fact, any kind of plastic waste (even broken pens, toys etc) from his/her home, into a big bag, and takes it to school every fortnight, the total collection of plastic at the school will be considerable. The people from the factory say that they will themselves collect it from the school and pay for it too.
This is a great idea, and can be implemented by large apartment blocks too.
The civic club members at the school where I am a civic tutor, are all fired up with enthusiasm. They will be talking at the school assembly about this and persuading their school mates to join in this movement for useful re-use of plastic waste.
Let's all join hands to make Bangalore a garbage-free city!

One possible approach to change Indian society

If you remember, I mentioned in my last blog (many months ago) that the solution to our society's ills lies in bringing about change in the younger generation. Soon after I posted that blog, I came across an organisation called Children's movement for Civic Awareness (CMCA) - this is the link: www.cmcaindia.org.
This organisation works with school children through volunteers who work as civic tutors, and inculcate values like cleanliness and civic consciousness, environmental issues and also essentials of democracy, rights and responsibilities. The primary principle is the 'Ripple effect' where 'change begins with me, my family, my friends, and my neighbourhood'.
It is amazing to see how children absorb ideas - they are like sponges, eagerly taking in all the concepts and values imparted.
The program is a judicious mix of module lessons where even 'dull' civics topics like 'urban local governance' are made interesting by using practical ideas. Children are taught to appreciate the thankless work done by municipal sweepers, traffic police etc. They are taken on visits to various facilities like the traffic control centre of the police department, or a plastic recycling factory.
Children also run various campaigns in school or their neighbourhood. In the school where I am a civic tutor, the children have been running an 'anti-litter' campaign' for the primary school. They found that, during the 'short-break', the kids were throwing biscuit wrappers and other stuff all over the corridors. Within a week of the campaign, there was a marked difference in the little ones' habits. They told their teacher ' One Akka and one Anna came and told us we should not throw things here and there' and meticulously use the dustbin. While earlier they used to sharpen their pencils anywhere and let the shavings fall anywhere, after the campaign, they carefully go to the dustbin and sharpen the pencils.
Very soon after this, the kids observed Municipal sweeper or 'Pourakarmika' day - they all collected some money, bought some sweets, made an appreciation card and met the workers. When these workers told them about their hard life, and that the main problem they face is the repeated littering of streets, it further strengthened their resolve to make a change in themselves and their family and friends' habits.
It is truly fulfilling to work with children. We need many more people to work with children to change our society.