The Deccan Chronicle  04.08.2010

Citizens take charge, do their own clean up act

Aug. 3: People of Bengaluru are not leaving it entirely to BBMP to manage the city’s garbage. Members of various welfare groups have come together under a common umbrella — the Solid Waste Management Roundtable — to do their bit to keep the city clean.

Founder of Let’s Clean Bengaluru and a member of Solid Waste Management Roundtable, Myriam Shankar says: “We are a bunch of people working towards the same cause of waste segregation in the city. We have regular meetings where we come up with innovative ways to deal with solid waste management.”

The Roundtable’s vision is to convert households, apartments and institutions into “zero waste” establishments. The Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) funds many awareness campaigns it conducts. Some of them appear to be paying off as over 13,000 households in Bengaluru have recently opted to segregate their waste before disposing it.

The members of Solid Waste Management Roundtable have divided various tasks among themselves. Radio Active, which is JGI’s Community Radio Station and a part of the roundtable provides information and learning activities on solid waste management, and encourages schools and colleges and resident welfare associations to be conscious of it. Full Circle concentrates on setting up zero waste management systems for institutions, individual homes and apartments in north
Bengaluru.

Another member, Yes In My Back Yard, organises waste collection, segregation and disposal in various residential areas and apartment blocks. But whatever these different organisations do, their common objective is a clean Bengaluru.