Recycle your Tetra Paks into garden benches

The residents of Artek Apartments in Bandra are the proud owners of a unique garden bench that's made from recycled Tetra Pak cartons. It's what they got after recycling more than 2,000 cartons in nine months. Over the past few months other housing societies too have taken up the responsibility to segregate cartons for recycling, with the assistance of a convenient collection chain set up through the combined efforts of RUR (R U Reducing , reusing, recycling), a non-government organisation, 

Tetra Pak and Sahakari Bhandar retail chain. "We first put a recycling bin in the society to try this out. Most of the children had the recycling programme going on at school, so they were excited to do it at home and encouraged their parents. Now we've got a recycled bench for our garden," said Vinay Adhye, business head, Sahakari Bhandar.

Wanted an eco-friendly, green disposal system in Delhi

Delhi’s green watchdog, the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC), has warned of a critical environmental crisis if the Capital cannot manage its municipal waste properly.

“The sheer volume of waste generated by Delhi is a huge challenge. We simply have our hands full. The three dumping sites at Ghazipur, Bhalaswa and Okhla are exhausted. There is no space to add waste. Fresh sites are being looked into with the Narela-Bawana Road site now being touted as the newest area,” said DPCC member secretary Sandeep Kumar Mishra.

DPCC claims that it has already informed the Delhi Municipal Corporations of the hazardous practice of continuing to dump into the three exhausted yards (all of them have crossed the 30-metre danger mark height level).

“Delhi is a landlocked State with limited land availability. The mountain of municipal solid waste that we produce every day has to be managed in a manner that will ensure least pollution – water table contamination, air pollution -- and zero health and nuisance value to the human population near the dumping sites,” said Mr. Mishra.

WASTE-TO-ENERGY PLANTS

Suggesting how to scientifically manage the waste, the DPCC has asked the municipal corporations to make functional waste-to-energy plants that will ensure disposal of waste in an environmentally viable and self-sustainable manner.

“With the Delhi Development Authority stating that there is severe scarcity of land in the Capital, the answer to manage our waste could well be the introduction of waste-to-energy plants, which environmentalists claim is a major health hazard. Delhi has one such plant that is fully functional and we have asked the municipal corporations to start the two plants that we have,” said Mr. Mishra.

“We have told the municipal corporations to close the three dumping sites and develop their own waste-to-energy (burning trash to generate electricity) and composting (to produce manure) plants,” he said.

Meanwhile, labour groups and environmentalists have cautioned against the dependence on waste-to-energy plants.

Environmentalist Gopal Krishna said: “Construction of waste-to-energy plants is an irresponsible move by the Delhi Government to try and manage the growing problem of waste management. The existing Timarpur-Okhla waste-to-energy incinerator has violated every rule in the book including environmental clearance conditions.”

Big push on cards to recycle water in Tamilnadu

Recycled water may become the new mantra to resolve water woes arising from rising population and scarcer availability due to the shrinking water table.
Governments as well as water firms are working on various technologies and str-ategies to supply recycled water, with a top state government official even suggesting a need for structural modification in water treatment facilities in buildings and flats so that waste-water can be reused.
Talking to Express on the sidelines of Municiplika Making Cities Work, Metro Water Managing Director Dr K Gopal said the dual pumping of water in residences as well as hotels and flats is the need of the hour so that potable waste-water can be reused.