Rural Sikkim Needs New Waste Management Model

editorial:

Readers would have noticed a flurry of news-reports of late on awareness sessions being held at the GPU and ward levels across Sikkim in pursuit of zero-waste status. This is welcome and urgently required. It was after all not fair that lavish budgets were expended on waste management limited to the urban sprawls at the cost of 75% of the population which resides in rural Sikkim. 4.55 lakh of Sikkim’s population of 6.07 lakh resides in rural areas. This, as per the ‘Provisional Population Totals’ [paper 2, volume 2 of 2011] Rural-Urban Distribution of Population Sikkim [series 12] released by the Directorate of Census Operations, Sikkim. And this is after the urban spread was significantly expanded in Sikkim some years back. The point being made here is that the75% population which resides in rural Sikkim lives more or less the same lifestyle as families in urban areas, following similar patterns of consumption, and hence generating similar waste. They should thus be provided a matching organizational and infrastructural arrangement to manage their waste. The traditional modes of disposal will not deliver for the non-biodegradable and excessive nature of contemporary waste. Most village homes have a pit to dispose their waste. When this waste was organic in nature, the ‘pit’ approach worked well, but kids no longer buy loose balls of ‘Anda’ mithai anymore and their sweets come in plastic wrappers and guests at social gatherings are no longer served in plates stitched from ‘malatho’ or banana leaves and even drink water from Styrofoam cups now. The traditional waste management system, which focused only on household level disposal and had no need for segregation, collection and organized disposal, just won’t do anymore. The rural areas generate the same waste as urban zones, hence it is necessary that they are extended the same systems of collection and disposal. This requirement becomes even more urgent as more areas start hosting tourists and village tourism becomes the new mantra for development here.