Sunil and Anil went for their daily walk. This time they decided to walk through the by-lanes in their area instead of taking a regular, 90 feet wide road. So, they moved ahead and within half an hour or so, they came back frustrated, disgusted, covering their nose with handkerchiefs.
They vowed never to enter those by-lanes again! What must have happened? Why were they feeling frustrated? Simply because while walking through those by-lanes, the duo encountered heaps and piles of trash all around the localities.
That trash was ‘heterogeneous’ meaning it contained different types of wastes including plastics, cardboard boxes, leathery items, worn out clothes, dead and worn-out electric bulbs, fixtures, a piece or two of broken wooden furniture, batteries, tampons, sanitary pads, diapers, papers, left over vegetable and fruit residues, food waste, ‘nirmalya’-a type of waste comprising stale flowers and garlands which were offered to gods on the previous day- etc.
Now food waste and fruits, vegetable residues, floral waste are biological meaning those are derived from living entities.
When mixed with all different types of ‘non-living’ entities that Sunil and Anil saw, this ‘living waste’ would rot creating an unbearable foul smell, polluting the surrounding air. That is what happened to Sunil and Anil.
Also, such heaps presented very ugly sight. On top of that, it attracted diverse life forms such as stray dogs, cows, crows, rats, flies etc. Sunil and Anil couldn’t bear the stench and that sight. That’s why they rushed back to their original walk way that provided relatively fresh air, and a good amount of greenery etc.
Again, Sunil and Anil are representatives of billions of people including you and me. We also encounter such heaps of trash lying along the streets, by-lanes etc. almost every day while walking on the road.
Now the question is where does this trash come from? We clean the house as a daily ritual, collect all the dust and whatever is in the range of that broom we use for cleaning, collect it in a pan and unload that pan into a dustbin. And that is how we generate trash.
It might contain cardboard boxes, tetrapacks, plastic bottles, plastic bags and what not. We get fresh fruits and vegetables from the market. Fruits like bananas, pineapples, oranges, pomegranates, watermelons, muskmelons, mangoes etc. need to be peeled off to eat the inside pulp. Different types of vegetables need proper cleaning by removing their unwanted parts which we do not use in cooking. Such ‘unwanted’ fruit peels and residues of the vegetables are collected in plastic carry bags and thrown away in the dustbin. Similarly leftover and stale food is also collected in such plastic bags to be discarded in the dustbin. And that is how we generate trash! In many households, it is a daily custom to offer prayers and worship the gods/goddesses by performing ‘pooja’ and offering flowers, garlands etc.
Next day, before starting the pooja, these ‘stale’ flowers, garlands etc. are removed to make a place for the fresh ones, collected in a plastic bag and are temporarily stored. And that is how we generate trash!
(The writer is an environmental expert. Views personal)
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