management authority for better coordination between those involved in
waste management and the local bodies. Speaking at a seminar on solid
waste management organised by New Media and the Global Forum for
Disaster Reduction in the capital on Friday, Mr. Thomas suggested that
the ideal way to overcome the problem was not to generate waste. The
former IAS official pointed out that 50 per cent of the waste
generated in the country was paper. Making offices paperless and use
of both sides of paper for writing would result in less wastage. He
also stressed the need for creating awareness among the public and the
children to overcome the problem. Associate vice-president, marketing
and business development, JCB, Amit Gossain, called for the effective
use of technology to overcome the problem. Machines should be
effectively used and integrated solid waste management should be
adopted. Adopting 4 R's - refuse, reduce, reuse and recycle -
segregation of waste at source, creating awareness and including waste
management in the curriculum were some of the steps mooted by him.
"Public-private partnership in waste management will go a long way as
the government cannot do it alone," he added. Vice-president of IL&FS
Waste & Urban Services Ltd. Kapil Gupta said it was time to set
scientific landfills in the country. "Those in the country are just
dumping yards and they look like mountains." According to him,
e-waste, bio-medical waste and construction and demolition waste will
have to be addressed in the coming days. The IL&FS, in association
with Delhi Municipal Corporation, is setting up a 500-tonne
construction and demolition waste plant, which is expected to commence
functioning in August. Director of Science Technology &
Entrepreneurship Development Project Mohanan Manalil said 6,000 tonnes
of waste was being generated daily in the five corporations, 53
municipalities and 999 panchayats in the State.
The Hindu, June 27
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