WASTE MANAGEMENT
The purpose of this article is to bring light on “waste management to stop creating waste”.
Types of Waste
The two types of waste created in houses are organic wet waste (decomposable) and inorganic plastic waste (non-decomposable). Organic waste is vegetable and fruit skins and seeds, a maximum of 100 to 300 grams of organic material will go in as organic waste. Inorganic waste is produced mostly from the packaged food products and packages used for carrying the vegetables and fruits to the home.
Organic waste – Self decompose
The two ways for decomposing the organic waste at home, the first way is to have a container that can hold a waste of one month. Fill it with a small layer of soil at the bottom, introduce some earthworms in the container, and then over the soil the organic waste collected could be filled every day and at the end of every week, the organic material can be covered with another layer of soil. The earthworms will eat all the leftovers and convert them into useful manure. Similarly, every house should have 2 or 3 containers for use in rotation.
Another way is just digging a small pit in the garden exclusively for organic waste that can be used for 3 months and start throwing the waste into the pit. Every week add some sawdust to cover the organic waste to maintain the moisture. Here the earthworm will automatically come to the pit for converting the waste to manure. The first method can be used by the houses not having the garden, especially city houses.
If both these methods are not possible, they can motivate the nearby organic farmer to collect the organic waste twice in a day from their area and also motivate the area household members to keep the organic waste separately and give to the organic farmer.
Inorganic wastes – avoid or recycle
This waste can be easily avoided by starting to keep a cloth bag always with us in a handbag, motorbike/scooter, and car. So that if we need to purchase any product cloth bags can be used instead of getting the new plastic cover for carrying the product.
Any kind of plastics are recyclable, so attempt to segregate the plastics for a month and give it to the recycling shop; they provide some money for those plastics as well. Here we should not be concern about how much they are giving because the purpose is to recycle.
Conclusion
By following these strategies, over some time, the dustbin itself can be removed from the houses, and ultimately the word itself will disappear.
(This was the personal note written by Dr.S.Ragavan, Assistant professor, R.B.Institute of Management Studies, Ahmedabad, Gujarat)