Thiruvananthapuram: Many kitchen bin owners drop out

Thiruvananthapuram: Many kitchen bin users in Sasthamangalam ward have given up  on source-level waste management, to rely  on an agency which  collects waste from  their homes. Of the 430 users who were part of the programme,  only 130 continue to  use it, according to  ward councillor Bindu Sreekumar. The houses of UDF MLAs V.S. Sivakumar and K.S. Sabarinadhan are reportedly among the ones which have started relying on  an organic waste collection agency. In order to address the issue, Thiruvananthapuram Corporation will soon be conducting ward-level meetings in the 15 wards where kitchen bins were first introduced, says Health Standing Committee Chairperson K Sreekumar. “A campaign is required anyway now because the old bins will be replaced with new bins,” he says.

Councillor Bindu Sreekumar hopes that once the new waste management bylaw starts getting enforced, it would encourage everyone to come back to the source-level waste management system. DC spoke to residents who opted for the collection agency. One of them said that though the kitchen bins were working very well, they had to spend time and effort on maintaining it. She said that when the bins were first installed, there were issues, but the Corporation officials who inspected the bin identified that the problem was with the high moisture content in their waste.

“At my home, we had to fashion a sieve out of a bucket, as we always make stew and gravy. It was a lot  of effort. Still we were one of the last to go back to the collection system,” she said. The others were unhappy with delays in collecting the compost, according to her. Collection of compost was required as many did not have the space to dispose it off. Even though there was no malodour, keeping the compost was a hassle for many. A resident said that storing it was especially difficult during the rains.