If you can't clean your surroundings don't make it dirty

In most of the world, including North America, we do one of two things with our ordinary garbage: burn it or bury it. Neither one is good for us or for the environment. Burning garbage in incinerators releases dangerous gases and dust (particulate matter) which contribute to global warming and pollute lakes, forests, oceans and cities half a world away from where they originated. Most incinerators in industrialized countries now remove large quantities of particles and pollutants, thus ensuring cleaner air. But the bulk of what they remove ends up in a landfill.

The key challenges to solving this problem are:

1. The agencies responsible for implementation have not not been geared up and empowered.

2. Community engagement has not taken off.

3. Suitable infrastructure has not been developed, and the incentive system has not been altered successfully.
The possible solutions to these challenges can be:

1. Community engagement to drive deep behavioral changes.

A first step towards that can be the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike’s pitching model that involves citizens composting their waste and the civic agency buying it from them. These composts will be used in the city’s parks, before the waste is taken to waste plants. This will encourage people to start segregating and making composts at home. Other such initiatives can also be implemented.

2. The other solution to the challenge is inculcating the prowess to make right technological decisions.

For instance, the problem of plastic waste is a menace for the world, since the waste takes millions of years to degrade and causes a big threat to environment.

3. Political capital to make the requisite by-laws and enforcing them is the next solution to this problem. To ensure this, increasing taxes on fresh material may be increased, thereby encouraging people to start reusing materials.

4. Last but not the least, it needs to be ensured that human capital on a large scale follows all the aspects of this process – from planning, research to implementation.