Increasing quantum of waste has been a growing concern of all cities in developing countries. Population escalation, coupled with industrial booms has hit the environmental rights of mankind. People started to worry about managing solid as well as sewage wastes, but were so unmindful of the small steps that can be initiated at their own levels to help make a better world. A little care in disposing the waste by segregating at source, would have lent a strong helping hand to the Solid Waste Management activities of the District Administration. But the scenario present today is indeed agonizing – “Dump the waste outside the fence and Don’t bother what happens thereafter”.
A general assumption of waste management is to simply collect rubbish and to dump it on a landfill so as to let it decay through natural processes. But degradable wastes, tightly packed in polythene bags, would not decay immediately. This leads to piles of garbage stinking and contaminating the entire area.
Effective waste management lies in the considerations on the type of waste rather than the amount of waste getting disposed off. With regard to liquid wastes, its management would be really effective until we don’t let storm water and sewage water to mix together. This can save all our water bodies from getting polluted. Within Coimbatore city, implementation of Under Ground Drainage (UGD) system is hardly 30%. The balance 70% of sewage water finds its way to reach water bodies through the storm drain and thereby the same pollutes the entire surface water. Even industries like dyeing units and leather tanneries pollute water by simply letting their effluents without getting them treated.
Managing solid as well as liquid wastes can seem a mammoth task, if not considered properly at decentralised levels. And the group of public, that can be of great help to solve a city's garbage problem are women, the home-makers. If a drop of care can be given before disposing wastes, we can together make sure that our children can play in a hassle-free, pollution-free, mosquito-free environment that is laden with sweet-scented breeze.