Lending an helping hand to make the city garbage free, Persistent Foundation joined hands with Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) and NGO Janwani to provide for funds and manpower to spread awareness about the ambitious 'Zero Garbage Ward' project.
The project that was launched on pilot basis in 2011 starting from Katraj ward has spread to 20 other wards. It is aimed towards 100 per cent collection of waste, segregation of waste and treatment of waste at ward-level itself. However given the lack of funds for spreading awareness, the success of the pilot project couldn't be replicated in all the other wards with not more than 45% target achieved. In a bid to improve this situation in ward no 36, the Persistent Foundation will be providing the funds and manpower for training and awareness hoping that more corporates join the same.
PMC commissioner Vikas Deshmukh said that with the growing population, problem of garbage is also increasing and it is the high time that all the stakeholders work towards garbage free city. "By the end of this year, we hope to launch the project in all forty wards," he added.
Director of Janwani Dr Kiran Kulkarni said that of all three phases including collection, segregation and treatment of waste, the pilot project in Katraj completed all the three steps achieving 80 percent collection, 75 per cent segregation and 90 per cent treatment of wet waste. "In other twenty wards, collection and segregation of waste have been started but due to lack of awareness only 40 per cent of the target has been achieved even after an year. If the involvement of a third party increases the output of the project, the PMC as well as Janwani will try to include other corporate companies to contribute to other regions," he added.
The working steps of the model:
· Maximum segregation of wet and dry waste at households and commercial complexes
· Waste pickers to pick the segregated waste along with a charge of 1 rupees per day
· Treatment of wet waste using appropriate technology like compost, biogas plant, etc and dry waste to be sold to scrap collectors
· Any unprocessed waste or non-saleable items to be disposed in the landfill
