A big win for Bangalore’s green activists at HC; 2Bin1Bag, waste-pickers rule the roost

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(L to R) Ex-cricketer Rahul Dravid joins the 2Bin1Bag campaign, saying, “it makes the job of segregation easy”. This is how full of smiles all the waste-pickers were at Hasiru Dala today.

The Year 2015 couldn’t have ended better!

In what can be termed a holistic and humane judgment, the Karnataka High Court today directed the city of Bangalore to adopt a three-tier, colour-coded segregation and gave the first right to recyclables to waste-pickers. The segregation at source rule applies to all—individual homes, bulk generators, commercial establishments, government offices, Railway, Defence, etc. Continue reading →

How N S Ramakanth, a noble soul, is trying to save Sankey Tank

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“Avarige protective gear kodsi, Swamy… Can you look at the filth they are standing in? There’s lead and mercury in the sludge. They will get all kinds of diseases. Can’t you just get them boots and gloves?”

I heard N S Ramakanth (NSR)—a Bangalore-based environmental activist—say this to a mid-ranking BBMP official on Gandhi Jayanthi evening at Sankey Tank. A never-seen-before, massive clean-up operation was into its fifth day to save whatever that was left of this beautiful water body post Ganesha festival. “Don’t say that, saar! They will stop working,” the official replied. Continue reading →

The journey of tissue paper from your home to…

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"These bags are full of tissue papers," says this ITC employee who picks up the load from various destinations and brings it to the DWCC.

“These bags are full of tissue papers,” says this ITC employee who picks up the load from various destinations and brings it to one of the dry waste collection centres in Yelahanka.

Did you know the tissue papers that you threw into your dustbin can travel miles and get processed and recycled all over again?

Before you get to know the final avatar it assumes, let me make it clear that I am referring to only segregated, unsoiled tissue paper which is not contaminated beyond remedy. Continue reading →

Adopt 2b1b, segregate at home, says Dr B Jayashree

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Dr B Jayashree with two bins and one bag.

Being a versatile personality that lends dignity to any role she plays, any song she hums and any movie she acts in, Dr B Jayashree has been donning the role of an eco-campaigner to save Bengaluru from going to the brink. And that, as one can imagine, she does with aplomb. Continue reading →

Swachh Bharath: Please do not sweep the issue under the carpet

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sweepbaby“I am scared of these ‘porake’s.” They are not going to solve the problem. Instead, this opportunity should have been used to create awareness on segregation because all this mixed waste is going to end up in Mandur.”

This is what senior activist N S Ramakanth of Solid Waste Management Round Table said in a panel discussion aired by a Kannada TV channel this evening as a prelude to the Swachh Bharath campaign to be kicked off on Gandhi Jayanthi tomorrow. Continue reading →