Page 64 - Plastics Nuews October 2017

IN ThE NEWS

78% of Delhi dumps garbage on NMMC makes FIFA mural

the road, says report from 7,000 plastic bottle caps

bout 78% Delhiites dump garbage on the roadside IFA Mural, an installation made from more than
Aor in open plots in their neighbourhoods and 17% F7,000 recyclable plastic bottle caps, was unveiled
claim to have no access to a community dump or dhalao at CBD Belapur recently. The mural has been created
in north Delhi, a survey co-researched by Chintan, the by the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) and
Delhi environment department and German NGO GIZ has Green Society Forum’s Green Placemakers under the
revealed. The report, Making Delhi Swachh: Participatory Swachh Bharat and Swachh Navi Mumbai campaigns.
About 6.5 feet in diameter and weighing 250 kg, it
has been placed opposite the NMMC headquarters on
Palm Beach Road. Navi Mumbai is one of the cities to
host the FIFA U-17 World Cup. Tushar Pawar, Deputy
Municipal Commissioner, Solid Waste Department,
said, “The vision is to transform Navi Mumbai into
a zero-waste, eco-friendly city.” He said the NMMC
has always encouraged ‘smart art’, and had earlier
created the Mother India Board, a map of India, using
e-waste. Benoy K., concept director of Green Society
Forum, said, “The bottle caps were collected from
across Navi Mumbai in five days.”
He said the mural was completed by a 10-member
team from the forum. It is a permanent structure,
Solid Waste Management Policy for Delhi, has taken and is affixed to a wooden base, which is also made
feedback from over 3,000 residents across the east, from waste material.
south, north and New Delhi municipal territories starting
from 2013. Jaspal Singh Naol, social initiative director of the
“Nearly 76% Delhiites wrongly believe that glass and
metal are biodegradable (97% in East Delhi). In other
words, people need a lot more education on this. Only
44% of respondents pay for doorstep waste collection.
For virtually every household (99%), waste is collected
at least twice weekly. These were some of the shocking
discoveries of the report,” Chitra Mukherjee of the Chintan
Environmental Research and Action Group said. Of the
total garbage generated in the city, about 9,100 metric
tonnes, 50% is fit for composting and 30% is recyclable.
Only 20% should reach the landfills. After sending 4,500
tonnes to waste-to-energy plant for incineration and forum, said, “There is a need to engage people
850 metric tonnes for composting, at least 3,800 tonnes in social transformation. Creative and innovative
makes its way to the city’s already exhausted dump sites green methodology can transform human behaviour
in Narela-Bawana, Bhalaswa, Okhla and Ghazipur.
towards nature.” Kishor Biswas, art director of Green
According to the NGO, the findings of the report throws Society Forum, said that as a pilot project, the forum
new light and a fresh perspective on what people in Delhi and NMMC have opened a drop-off centre at Mango
think about waste. However, numbers in hand, the authors Garden, CBD Belapur. “People can drop off any old
argue that the stereotype that depicts residents as among and unused plastic goods, toys or cycles, so that they
the worst behaved in matters of waste in the country is can be turned into art.”
groundless in most respects.

Plastics News | Octob er 2017 64