The New Indian Express 09.02.2010
Mission to keep city clean
BANGALORE: These roads in MSH Layout of Anand Nagar look clean, with hardly any plastic bags or wrappers strewn around, and the credit for this goes to Full Circle, whose mission is to keep one’s immediate surroundings clean and environment-friendly through proper disposal of solid waste.
Full Circle, which started in mid-2008, comprises four core members, Anjana Iyer, Derick Anil, Chethan Karanth and Dr Radhika Rao, and six helpers. “We come from different professional backgrounds and have contributed in different ways to fulfil our goal,” said Iyer. Iyer has worked with the Dutch-based Urban Waste Expertise programme and is aware about waste management.
Anil, a social activist with a good business attitude. Karanth is a graphic artist and has helped create posters to spread awareness and Rao has contributed by creating communities.
“We want to achieve sustainable living, and thus, we are trying our best in contributing to a cleaner and greener environment,” said Anil.
The members go door to door, educating the residents of Anand Nagar about solid waste management, asking them to segregate their dry and wet waste. A plastic bag that costs Rs 15, with certain instructions on the material to be stored in the bag, is handed to residents.
“All we are asking them to do is to separate dry waste like plastic bags etc from the wet waste and put it into these bags. We then collect these bags once in 15 days,” said Iyer. “Currently, the waste is collected from 145 houses in Anand Nagar and two apartment complexes. The dry waste is then segregated by scrap dealers and sent for recycling,” she added.
Uma Iyer, a resident of Anand Nagar, said, “The dry waste collection by Full Circle is excellent. My house is now clutterfree with the introduction of this concept.
I would love to join them in their endeavour but my age does not permit me to.” “But on the other hand, youth have not been cooperative. They say that they don’t have enough time,” said Anil. The wet waste is collected by BBMP, although Full Circle has requested them to use some of the wet waste as compost in parks and in one’s house. BBMP has agreed in principle to give them space to integrate collection of dry waste. By the end of 2010, the organisation aims at collecting waste from 1,000 households in Anand Nagar and in five years, covering this entire area, and introducing rain water harvesting and comprehensive waste management.
