Model for clean cities, towns and villages

It is interesting to note that clean towns and villages are one of the top priorities for the new government in India as indicated in the Independence Day address by Prime Minister of India on 15th August 2014. The reasons for unclean public spaces are more fundamental in nature from lack of relevant education with respect to personal hygiene and sanitation in early child hood to lack of efficient as well as functional public sanitation and waste management systems in villages, towns and cities.

Moreover, the waste management practices in India are not scientific. Gone are the days for using brooms, shovels, spades and push carts to make the city streets clean. Elsewhere in the first world, waste management in cities has evolved into more scientific taking into consideration of ever expanding population, types of waste, source of waste, segregation of waste, collection methods, transportation and environmentally safe disposal.

​In developed countries, waste management in cities is handled by persons with specialized skills such as Technical Specialists (TS) and Subject matter experts (SME) in city municipality with extensive knowledge of scientific waste management. These experts employ latest techniques, tools and equipments in keeping the cities clean. Field workers wear personal protective equipment such as gloves, helmet, work boots and masks as they handle hazardous waste from hospitals.

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First and foremost, Segregation of waste at the source is the hall mark of scientific waste management. In residences, apartments, restaurants, markets, shops, commercial establishments, offices, schools, banks etc, waste is collected separately in line with the final destination of waste. Segregation of waste is done with Blue bins, green bins and black bins. This color coding is a standard practice in Europe and North America. The blue bins are meant for waste that is recyclable and green bins are for waste destined for compost. Black bins are for waste that is going for land fill. The segregation of waste is important for effective final disposal for reasons such as quality of compost would come down if the compost contains plastic or metal.

The City municipality provides blue, green and black bins on the streets at a location accessible for mechanized trucks. It is the responsibility of households and apartment blocks to have bins in their premises. Collection and emptying of bins into trucks as per the daily schedule using mechanized trucks is done by municipality. Final disposal of waste for processing into recyclable material, compost and land fill is done by waste management companies enlisted by municipal council. Paper recycle, Plastic recycle Plants and compost plants are set up by entrepreneurs with support from municipality and government. Some towns which house farm based industries produce lot of organic waste which is used for biogas production and subsequent electricity generation. Some towns have successfully commissioned fuel additive plants to produce ethanol from municipal waste.

Litter on streets is removed by appropriate tools like grabber, picker and vacuum pump. In the end, streets are swept and cleaned by mechanized trucks.

The whole process culminates into neat and clean roads and streets providing healthy surroundings for the residents and good image for the city. This is a combined effort of residents, commercial entities, city municipality, government, industries, scientists, engineers and skilled work force. In the end, every resident is proud of their villages, towns and cities because they are neat, clean, beautiful with healthy environment.