Waste Management | Citizen Matters

India’s new plastic management rules go soft on industry, betray environment

April 19, 2018 Laasya Shekhar

India generates around 25,940 tonnes of plastic waste every day, but the amended rules for its management provide no road map towards reduction. If anything, it only gives the FMCG industry cause for cheer, say environmentalists.

In Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai or Bengaluru, what will it take to green our marathons?

February 28, 2018 Revathi Siva Kumar

Running events in our major cities bring together 11000 to 45000 runners annually. In most races, they are given single-use plastic water bottles, or packaged food and drinks. That’s a lot of waste! Now, a Bengaluru runner has started a campaign to change that.

What Bengaluru needs to learn from our really “Swachh” cities

January 17, 2018 Kathyayini Chamaraj

Despite 65% segregation at source on paper and lofty plans, Bengaluru continues to wallow in the garbage it generates. What exactly could it learn from cities that are managing their waste better?

Debate over GST on sanitary napkins: What are we missing?

July 12, 2017 Shree D N

A recent comment by a Kannada actor defending GST on sanitary napkins and terming them as a western imposition sparked off a furious debate on social media. But have the shrill arguments clouded the nuances of the issue?

Where a dumping ground is a tourist attraction!

June 30, 2017 UNDP India

A half-hour drive from Goa, the small municipality of Vengurla is recycling 7 tonnes of waste generated daily and earning money from plastic sold to contractors for road-building in nearby areas.

Swachh rankings: Why Alappuzha with its award winning system is in the bottom 100

June 20, 2017 Navya P K

The Alappuzha model of waste management was presented as a zero-waste model at the Paris Climate Conference in 2015. Yet the city stands at a dismal rank of 380 in the recent clean city rankings. Navya P K finds out why.

Why India’s clean city rankings need a serious rethink!

June 16, 2017 Navya P K

The top ranked cities in the Swachh Survekshan 2017 undertaken by the MoUD do not segregate, process or dispose of their waste scientifically. In the first part of an in-depth study, Navya P K finds that the survey criteria are in conflict with the government’s own SWM policy!

Living on the edge: A photo-essay on Bengaluru’s migrant waste pickers

May 10, 2017 Kavya Michael

A vivid picture of the destitution and rights-deprivation that members of the city’s migrant waste-picking community are doomed to.

Why you should speak out loud for menstrual cups

March 13, 2017 Malini Parmar

Menstrual cups are better for health, easier on your pocket, more convenient and definitely better for the environment. Why then do we not hear of it more often?