16 February 2020, 2:30 am
Editorial : Proper Waste Disposal
This article has been preserved from The Voice Of Sikkim historical news collection and reflects information available at the time of its original publication.
Editorial : Proper Waste Disposal
According to the Besal convention of the United Nation?s Environment programme: ?? Wastes are substances or objects, which are disposed of or are intended to be disposed of or are required to be disposed of by the provisions of national law?.
Each year people discard half a ton of garbage composed of everything from egg shells to broken dishes to tea leaves, plastic bags electronic appliances etc after a lot of campaigns and waste management projects people have started implementing ideas of segregating?waste materials. ?Sikkim has been a paragon of a ?clean state?, as it has banned plastic usage and with building of washrooms and proper sanitation facilities people don?t have to defecate in the open. Maybe from outside our state may look very prim and proper very clean and green but have we taken a closer look?
Some initiative taken by our Government i.e. they have provided colored dustbins ?for wet and dry waste both so that the waste gets separated and disposing and recycling ? process would be easier however due to negligence people still defy this simple practice. ?People are not aware about the health hazards of mixed waste or people don?t think its their responsibility to segregate the waste, once we?ve thrown our waste we don?t like to put our hands inside the bin etc, people fail to understand that different kinds of waste are treated differently. Dry waste can be recycled and wet waste can be composed.
In Sikkim the collection and transportation of the waste is done in a closed vehicle street to street to ensure there is no littering and this also maintains hygiene, in spite of several measures taken by the government people still dump waste in the drains or nearby streams or behind buildings also left over food are dumped in the nearby drains so it gets clogged.
Sanitary waste disposal has also become an increasing problem as the plastic used in disposable sanitary pads are non bio-degradable which may lead to health and environmental hazards.?These products take hundreds of years to decompose, but because of the SAP (superabsorbent polymers)?present in commercial sanitary napkins, they absorb and retain 30 or more times their weight in fluid which often leads to clogging of toilets, sewerage systems and drains, and when burned, release toxic fumes like dioxins and furans that are harmful for users and the environment.
With the increasing waste peril which has become a challenge to deal with people should be aware of segregating and managing their wastes.
Effective waste disposal calls for concerted efforts from all, no matter how anxious or worried we may be about our environment. So awareness must be spread and people should co operate with the GMC in proper segregation and waste management.