Locals wage war against litter, Zero Garbage Week from Sept 6

The residents of Bandra and Khar have decided to organise a ‘Zero Garbage Week’, starting on September 6, to create awareness among citizens about the importance of garbage segregation. They will be doing this in collaboration with ward officials.

The Khar Residents’ Association and Wake Up Bandra are reaching out to the ALMs, NGOs and individuals in H-west ward to join in the campaign. “We are holding this campaign just before the Bandra Fair and Ganeshotsav, which begin on September 8 and 9, respectively, to clean our areas and to create more awareness about the segregation of garbage,” said Anandini Thakoor, managing trustee of Khar Residents’ Association.

Thakoor added that they had been striving for several years to get residents in the area to start separating their garbage, but to no avail. Despite getting help from ward officials, all their efforts have fallen on deaf ears.

“This time, we will also be involving around 54 schools in the initiative. We are mobilising citizens and working out the details, which are likely to be finalised by Wednesday,” said Thakoor.

Civic officials have welcomed the move. “Despite our repeated attempts, we are not able enforce the rules about the garbage segregation well due to the absence of scientific waste disposal mechanisms,” said a senior civic official, adding that they will provide assistance to the residents if needed.

The official added that though they are focusing on waste disposal and house-to-house collection of garbage, such a drive will help ensure that waste segregation is done at the source, which is the need of the hour.