NEW DELHI: Making the business of waste management their own, about 1,000 households in Defence Colony A-Block here are successfully participating in an initiative to turn their locality into a zero-waste zone.

It has been seven months since the households here have been carrying out waste segregation and composting that allows waste to be largely tackled within the confines of the community, contributing to a landfill diversion of 600-700 kg of waste per day thus reducing the pressure on landfill sites.

"The project is an example of successful intervention of community-based municipal waste management that began seven months ago. Defence Colony falls under the Central Zone of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi and with problems emerging from the existing system of solid waste management, the local residents' welfare association decided to take the responsibility upon itself to make its community cleaner and a hygienic place to live,'' says Senior Programme Coordinator Prashant Pastore.

The area previously had no primary segregation of waste and the MCD "dhalao" overflowed, making the area filthy and unhygienic. Now after the intervention, almost 40 per cent of the households hand over segregated waste to the waste collectors.

"The initiation of zero-waste zone has encouraged the community to manage the biodegradable waste by composting it within its colony. Both primary and secondary segregation are done in order to recover the recycle and reusable stuff while the kitchen waste is taken to the composting pits. Also, monthly collection fee from the residents supports the salary of waste collectors,'' explains Mr. Pastore.

There are altogether four compost pits, two of which are located in the JCO Club and the other two in the nearby MCD parks currently operational in the area. "Collection of waste from every household exists but the total waste goes into the MCD `dhalaos' located within the community. A total of four waste collectors earn their income by collecting Rs. 35 from every household and each collector caters to an average of 200-225 households. The system works well for the community and is an example of how people can help themselves,'' adds Mr. Pastore.

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