Waste Management And Liveability

Rapidly expanding cities in India are creating visible and sizable environmental challenges. From a common citizen's perspective basic amenities, safety and security, health and hygiene, environment and transportation are the five fundamental things that are required to make a city liveable. As easy it may sound, it is in fact challenging for many cities to meet even one of these requirements to the fullest.

Waste management is directly related to most of these fundamental pillars of liveability. Poor waste management can lead to deteriorating hygiene, cleanliness of the city and in turn affecting the health of the citizens. Accumulation of waste disturbs the aesthetics of the city and affects its image. India is on a rapid economic path, and as cities attract more people for jobs, the urban population will keep growing. This will result in more consumption and waste. This will remain a central concern for any city administration because of the sheer size of the challenges they have to deal with day in and day out. To add to it, the rise of semi urban areas around the city further increases the challenge. The humongous scale of consumption means it will always be challenging for the cities to fill in the inadequacies in the waste management systems.  

But the fact is that a well cleaned road can get filled up with litter in no time if our habits make us do that. Therefore just raising concerns with civic bodies about the inadequacies in the system is not enough. A participatory approach is what is needed. Unless citizens actively participate in the cleanliness, the city will not become more livable. Apart from segregating waste at home, not throwing litter and participating in voluntary activities are the basic things we can start with. When one citizen does this, others join in and it does take time for this to become a movement. Let's join in and pledge for a cleaner city !