RESIDENTS OF TRIPUNITHURA LEFT TO DEAL WITH WASTE ON THEIR OWN

Tentative measures by municipality fail to solve issue

The people of Tripunithura are at their wits’ end on the problem of waste management, but have come to terms with the fact that they have to deal with it themselves as the municipality has not been of much help.

While quite a few multi-storied flats have adopted waste management procedures promoted by CREDAI under its Clean City programme, there are quite a few flats where the number of units is too small to make the package viable.

Some of these flats have engaged a waste clearing agency that picks up organic waste twice a week. However, it is not known where the agency disposes of the refuse.

Some residents have resorted to dumping both organic and inorganic waste in vacant plots while some others burn the plastic waste on their own premises.

A waste management drive by the municipality more than a year ago by promoting pipe composting ended in failure as the residents found the whole process impractical and unhygienic.

Admitting that there was little that the municipality can offer by way of waste disposal, R. Venugopal, Chairman of the Municipal Council said that the civic body was open to ideas and willing to take up the issue if a sound proposal came up. As of now, the municipality collects organic waste only from shops and commercial establishment and sends it to the Brahmapuram waste processing plant.

The municipality’s budget has earmarked Rs.75 lakh for waste management and has also mentioned it as one of the most prominent issues requiring a solution.

The municipality would be taking up the drive again, said Mr. Venugopal. Subsidy is being offered to residents for adopting the waste management solutions proposed by Suchitwa Mission and CREDAI.

People still have not learnt to segregate waste at home, where the waste is generated, said V.C. Jayendran, the convenor of the Tripunithura Rajanagari Union of Residents’ Association. Segregation of waste by the collectors becomes a messy affair. Fumes from burning of plastic from the ground behind the Government Arts College that was the municipality’s dumping yard for long, had affected nearby residents for over a week. Mr. Jayendran said the residents’ apex body had informed the municipality and the Pollution Control Board about plastic being burned there.