Mission possible!

Seema Redkar has been working with the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) for the past 28 years, which automatically makes her an expert in the field. Passionate about her work, Redkar went out of her way to observe, learn and understand how municipalities in nations such as Norway and Sweden work. In a recent event at Nariman Point's Observer Research and Foundation, Redkar shared her experiences and suggestions.

"The basic criteria that must be fulfilled immediately is to educate the people about waste," says Redkar, "Garbage needs to be segregated into dry, wet, e-waste, etc. and then put into respective bins. These things can be taught to people through books published in various regional languages so that everyone can read and understand."

Once people are aware of the types of garbage, hazards related to waste, etc. it is important to provide the correct infrastructure for implementing the plans. This includes providing garbage bins that are colour coded as this will help people segregate the garbage accordingly.

"People tend to generate more waste than usual but if the quantity of garbage per person is pre-decided by the civic body, I think that will help in a big way," says Redkar, "If a law states that only a certain amount of garbage is allowed and above that, tax would be levied, then that will curb the level of waste automatically and will also make people conscious about it."

"A superb idea that has worked well in motivating people to recycle waste is to pay incentives. To implement this, we should set up small machines, in which pet bottles, plastic, etc. can be put for recycling; and in exchange, people are given some form of monetary incentive or a shopping voucher."

According to a BMC report, Mumbai generates close to 7,500 metric tonnes of waste per day, out of which 9% is plastic waste.