The new Corporation of the City of Panjim sponsored campaign to clean up the city (optimistically) titled “Mission Chak a Chak” has got off to a great start.
The CCP recently organized a three day event to evangelize the concept of segregating and composting waste. So now all residents of Panjim have to segregate their waste into ‘wet’ and ‘dry’ waste. The aim is to reduce the amount of waste that leaves the city destined for garbage dumps (Panjim has no land available as waste sites). The CCP envisions about 114 composting sites for wet waste in different neighborhoods that will first be handled by the municipal staff, then gradually handed over to residents. Dry waste, consisting of domestic and industrial waste will be sorted for recycling, incineration and landfill.
If Panjim residents think they have it tough, they will get no sympathy from residents of Yokohama in Japan. Here, residents have to sort waste into 10 categories; they have even been provided with a 27-page booklet on how to sort their trash! There’s burnables, small metals, plastics, bulky refuse, used cloth, to name a few. And even residents of Yokohama can’t complain, for then there is Kamikatsu, where residents have agreed to raise their trash categories from 34 to 44 in the next four years! The goal— no garbage by 2020.
Ok CCP. The residents of Panjim are with you. They think it’s the best thing that happened to the city. Now just show us the way and don’t go running off to Japan for a ‘study trip’ or we’ll create a stink to the high heavens!
